SATURDAY: Manchester Phoenix 0 Bracknell Bees 2

SUNDAY: Bracknell Bees 1 Manchester Phoenix 3

EPL ICE HOCKEY: Manchester Phoenix snatched a priceless away win at Bracknell on Sunday night, but only after a below-par performance led to a disastrous shutout at home to the Bees on Saturday.

Bracknell had yet to beat Phoenix in any of their EPL encounters, but despite dominating possession, Phoenix were unable to find a way past Carl Ambler in the Bracknell goal.

Bracknell broke the deadlock three minutes into the second period when Lukas Smital latched on to a pass from Martin Masa to score past Jorge El-Hage, in goal for the injured Steve Fone.

Masa grabbed a goal himself four minutes later to double the Bees’ lead, when a mistake in the Phoenix attack led to a Bracknell breakaway.

Phoenix were struggling to break down a stubborn Bees’ defence, and the Berkshire outfit was starting to control the game. This led to frustration in the Phoenix ranks, and tempers flared in the third when first Andy McKinney fought with Bees’ Sam Oakford, then Ondrej Pozivil went toe to toe with James Galazzi. Tom Duggan also saw red and was given a game misconduct after abusing an official late in the game, which topped off a miserable night for Phoenix.

The opposite was true on Sunday, however, as Phoenix controlled the return match in The Hive and won with goals from Joachim Flaten, Tony Hand and James Archer. While the victory keeps Phoenix within four points of league leaders Basingstoke Bison, the main concern from this weekend is a head injury sustained by Flaten which needed hospital treatment, and which Phoenix hope will not keep him out of Wednesday’s EPL Cup semi-final first leg away at Guildford Flames.