With exit from the National Cup rapidly moving from likely to certainty, Phantoms have now added to their cup woes with a semi-final defeat at the hands of Swindon Wildcats in the Autumn Cup.
In front of a worryingly sparse midweek crowd, Phantoms went out on penalty shots after tieing the game 3-3 on the night and 6-6 on aggregate.
Wildcats pre-game confidence that they had worked out Phantoms playbook proved more than just wishful thinking as they more than matched Phantoms in a hi-tempo and physical opening that saw them lead 0-2 by the game’s midpoint. Phantoms eventually wrestled the momentum back to lead 3-2 early in the third and the expectation was that Phantoms would cruise clear as they traditionally do in the third period at Bretton but Cats were having none of it and deservedly grabbed a late goal to take it to a goalless overtime and then penalty shots.
Wildcats player-coach Aaron Nell was both delighted and gracious in victory afterwards, “the first 25 minutes went exactly to plan, but after that we conceded a quick goal and then they really came for us, as they always do at home. They’re a great team but we got a good goal at the end of the game, then Renny was huge in goal”.
Both sides did enough to win and there was little by way of reasonable criticism that could be leveled at Phantoms albeit, with a hefty dose of hindsight, Slava Koulikov may have wished he had closed the game down at 3-2 rather than continuing to gamble numbers forward for the crucial fourth goal.
With the league campaign now dominating Phantoms priorities, Swindon have an ideal opportunity this weekend to win back favour in Peterborough as they play back-to-back games with Phantoms main title rivals Basingstoke Bison !
Game Stats HERE