MANCHESTER PHOENIX 1 – 3 TELFORD TIGERS
Manchester Phoenix will need close to a miracle to see them lifting the British Challenge Cup next week in Shropshire, after the Tigers took the first leg 3-1 in Altrincham with a brace from Scott McKenzie and a late goal from Nathan Salem.
On paper, the Tigers are a massive cut above the rest of the English Premier League clubs this year, while Manchester have struggled badly this season with injuries and form throughout. After the opening face-off, the visitors were very much the better side in the game, with their bigger bench the Tigers side made full use of quick line changes to keep the game tempo up in this cup final.
Manchester found themselves on the penalty kill after 29 seconds into in the game, after Robin Kovar was adjudged to have tripped a Tigers forward up at centre ice. Phoenix killed off the penalty and struggled to get in the game, their defensive side of play saw them playing well, even if their attack wasn't.
Steve Fone was the busiest netminder of the two and the Manchester goalie was having to turn the puck away on many occasions in the opening period. With the hosts unable to get their attacking play going at all in the match, it was always likely that the visitors would score first with their constant pressure on their rival’s goal.
The opening goal of the final did come for the Tigers, but came in slightly controversial circumstances. A bit of a scramble near the Phoenix crease saw a couple of Tigers starting to celebrating and despite no red light coming on from the goal judge, the referee awarded the goal and saw Scott McKenzie credited with the goal at 19.33 to give the visitors a deserved 1-0 lead. Manchester tried to force some attacking play upon their opponents and saw them having a mini spell of pressure, but they weren’t able to convert the puck on in the goal from the few chances they created..
Moving onto the second, the Tigers continued where they left off in the first, with them doubling their lead at 22.43, with Jason Silverthorn trying a wraparound play then spotted Nathan Salem free and the Telford man fired in goal number 2 for the Shropshire outfit.
The hosts midway through the game were being outplayed and out-muscled and was unable to get much of a foothold in the final. Phoenix then slowly got some joy and had a couple of good efforts on Thomas Murdy in the Tigers goal.
A mistake by Johan Burlin led to the 3rd Telford goal, when a poor pass was knocked out of the Tigers zone by Scott McKenzie. The Scottish forward skated the length of the rink to go one on one with Steve Fone and put it in the back of the net. Fone then smashed his stick on the post in anger after there was no sign of his defencemen trying to close McKenzie down.
With two periods of hockey mainly dominated by the newly crowned league champions, you would be forgiven to think the trend would continued in the final frame of the first leg. As it was, the home side finally got going and almost scored twice in the opening minutes of the third.
Firstly, Robin Kovar had a shot that seemed to roll down the back of the Tigers netminder but went agonisingly by the wrong side of the post. Soon after the Czech man was at it again, when his effort at the front of the net just clipped the top goal frame and went over the bar and away behind the net, this just saw the Phoenix more determined to not be shut out at home.
Manchester huffed and puffed at Thomas Murdy goal and he seemed to be using all of the 9 lives that the bigger cats had and was unable to deal with the puck at times too. Phoenix seemed to be getting to the Telford goalie rather late in the game and saw him slightly rattled at times in the period. The Phoenix began to out shoot their opponents and finally began testing their foes in this cup final, which eventually saw all the home side efforts pay off after Frankie Bakrlik managed to deflect his effort past Murdy for a goal. The goal gave a glimmer of hope for the short benched Manchester side at 46.13, with Ben Wood and Tony Hand assisting on the goal..
Telford wasn't getting past the Phoenix defence as easy as they had done in the opening two periods and the majority of the play was being played in and around the Tigers zone more now. Time on the first leg of this final was closing down and with Manchester just not getting the rub of the green with bounces and such, it saw the horn sound to see the Shropshire side taking a two goal lead back home and based on the opening leg of this final, you`d be a brave man to bet against them making it their second trophy this season.
Manchester will have hopefully have Michal Psurny back in the lineup for next week's second leg in Telford, but do have the knowledge of knowing they can win there, after winning nearly every game there last season and beat them 6-5 in a shootout earlier in the competition in the group stage.
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