 Romford Raiders 2 – 10 Manchester Phoenix
Manchester Phoenix ended a run of six defeats and totally erase bad memories of their previous two visits to Romford with a thumping 10-2 victory on Saturday evening. Even a late arrival at the Rom Valley rink couldn’t prevent a hat-trick from Adam Walker together with doubles from Robert Lachowicz and Tony Hand being far too much for a beleaguered Raiders side to cope with.
Given earlier results in the season for the Phoenix in Romford, it was no great surprise when the home side opened the scoring in the fourth minute, Marshall the scorer on a powerplay with Andre Payette in the penalty box for Cross-checking. But, Phoenix, missing the injured Stephen Wallace and Ed Courtenay, hit back in style with Robert Lachowicz equalising less than a minute later assisted by Greg Wood and Iain Bowie. Phoenix then turned the tables on the Raiders by taking the lead themselves just past the seven-minute mark as Tony Hand and Adam Walker combined to set up Jaakko Hagelberg for the go-ahead goal. Having got their noses in front, Phoenix then ran into penalty trouble with Ryan Johnson, Andre Mattsson and Greg Woof on a Misconduct all in the sin-bin, and the Raiders took advantage tying the game at 2-2 with Pliskauskas the scorer in the 14th minute. But, the topsy-turvy nature of the opening period saw Andre Mattsson atone for his penalty by edging the Phoenix back in front just before the 16-minute mark. And the Phoenix capped off a good first period showing with player coach Tony Hand netting a shorthanded fourth goal in the final minute with Hagelberg in the penalty box.
Charlie Kaylor replaced Euan king in the Raiders goal for the second period and it wasn’t long before he was fishing the puck out of his net as Adam Walker converted approach work by Lachowicz and Hand for the Phoenix fifth goal. A Hooking penalty on the Raiders gave the Phoenix another chance and they gleefully accepted it with Walker netting his second in two minutes assisted by Hand and Hagelberg. The Raiders were now close to disarray and another Phoenix powerplay saw Tony Hand bag his second of the game assisted by Mattsson and Walker. With the game decided, Phoenix were able to relax and the 35th minute saw Robert Lachowicz too add his second of the game, assisted by Greg wood and Hagelberg. Phoenix completed another excellent period with another last minute marker, as Adam Walker completed his hat-trick on assists from Hand and Hagelberg.
Phoenix eased right back off the throttle pedal in the third session and eventually replaced netminder Steve Fone with back-up goalie Adam Summerfield for the final seven minutes. In total control, Phoenix were keen to save some energy for Sundays’ home game against Peterborough and it wasn’t until the final minute that they reached the double-figure mark as Greg Wood tallied assisted by Walker and Hagelberg
A beaming Tony Hand noted, “I’m absolutely delighted with the effort the guys put in tonight. We played to our strengths and a gameplan, and everyone contributed, an excellent performance and one we can really to build on. ”
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