Phantoms will go into their top of the table showdown with Swindon Wildcats on Sunday evening looking down on their opponents after a victory in Milton Keynes was secured while Swindon were choking in their home tie with Romford Raiders.
Beating MK Thunder in their own barn starts with beating standout netminder Jordan Lawday who, only last weekend, performed sufficient heroics to see off in-form Basingstoke Bison. While taking on that formidable task, it is also critical not to start leaking goals at the other end !
As per the script, Lawday was performing heroics from minute one with several guilt-edged Phantoms chances foiled by the stopper but what wasn’t in the script was a short-handed go-ahead goal from Ross Bowers who powered home courtesy of a big deflection off the stick of former teammate Tom Norton at 7:58. Lawday then resumed his heroics, probably with even greater enthusiasm than before, with Phantoms struggling to find a way through while at the other end, Jordan Marr was being kept honest by a string of lively Thunder breakouts.
The game rolled into the middle period at 1-0 but Phantoms wasted no time in breaking the Lawday wall with Ales Padelek and Scott Robson combining to set up Glenn Billing to tie the game just 64 seconds after the restart. Both sides set about trading powerplay opportunities without any further goals arising until Tom Norton sat one out at 30:41 for holding. The powerplay backfired on the home side as James White found a way through Lawday’s defences to put Phantoms ahead with a shorthander.
Another powerplay arose at 35:10, this time for Phantoms as Ross Bowers sat one out for tripping and it took just 28 seconds for Scott Robson to extend Phantoms lead to 1-3, a lead they held through to the second break.
The first goal was likely to be of great significance in the third and it went to the home side on 44:56 when Barnes-Garner fired home to take the game back to a one-goal knife-edge. Phantoms continued to hammer away at the Lawday wall while nervously keeping things tight at the back and the game moved into the last five minutes with just one goal separating the two teams. That situation was about to change and then change again ….. and then change once more !
Martins Susters looked to have grabbed the big goal at 55:03 but 39 seconds later, Leblanc grabbed one back for Thunder and we were back to 3-4 with just over four minutes remaining. If that one rattled Phantoms nerves then captain James Ferrara was quick to calm things down on the next shift with Phantoms fifth goal assisted by Ales Padelek and brother Rob Ferrara. There was still time for some very close shaves in front of Jordan Marr’s goal with Thunder pulling Lawday for a late 6on5 but Phantoms held on to finish 3-5 winners.
Phantoms MOM was Tom Norton with Lawday taking the beers for Thunder.
With fingers crossed that this result isn’t wiped by the demise of Thunder in the coming weeks, defeat for Swindon at home to Romford Raiders means that Phantoms now sit at the summit of NIHL South 1 just in time to face Swindon on Sunday evening in a game that has serious pressure sitting on the shoulders of the stuttering Wiltshire side. A huge game demanding huge support ….. make sure you are there !
Game stats HERE