Phantoms hockey is never a popular brand down at Basingstoke where match reports repeatedly put down the lack of adventure in a team that co-incidentally often get the better of the home side. Tonight was no exception as Bison outshot Phantoms in every period but came out on the losing side once again. Begrudging references to Phantoms being “ruthlessly efficient” were appearing on Bison social media even before the final buzzer !
A tight opening period of limited chances on either side went Phantoms way when James Ferrara poked the puck home on 9:58 after a goalmouth scramble that Bison claimed included interference on their netminder Alex Mettam. The officials were not interested and a fired up Bison took the game back to Phantoms and tied the scores on 17:40 when Elliott Dewey crashed one through Jordan Marr.
The 1-1 scoreline rolled through a middle period that saw Marr the busier of the two netminders but the Phantoms stopper was on top form, as were the D-men in front of him and the game went down to the final twenty.
A tight game was always likely to be decided by the next goal and a trademark blue line blast from Ales Padelek was way too hot for Mettam to handle at 43:33 and it was Phantoms who had the advantage. A narrow lead in the final period has never been anything to phase Slava Koulikov sides and Phantoms remained disciplined and determined to blunt increasingly frantic efforts from the home side. In the end, Phantoms had good chances to extend their lead towards the end and even when facing a 6on4 powerplay in the final minute, they were never going to give these valuable two points up.
Phantoms MOM was Jordan Marr.
Two real tough tests for Phantoms this weekend and they have passed the first one even if by discipline and efficiency rather than with flying colours so now its down to Sunday night in Bretton for the visit of an in-form Streatham side ….. be there, should be a cracking game !
Game stats HERE