Not an easy game to look forward to given the relative recent form of the two sides plus the previous rout when they last met since when Phantoms had also pinched their best player but, credit to the Mos, it turned out to be a reasonable game in the end !
It was very clear from the start that Phantoms were going for the pretty goals in this one and I guess that would have been well justified if it worked but it didn’t. The plays were fine but the passes were loose and the reluctance to strike fast with one-timers simply gifted the Mos hard working D-men with opportunities to spoil and, behind them, Adam Long was given ample opportunity to get his eye in and that was never going to make things easy for Phantoms.
In fairness, there was never a moment when the result was going to be anything other than a Phantoms win but when the clock passed the game midpoint with the scores still 0-0, the home fans were starting to drift into Brexit mode with less of an interest in how we win and more of a “just get on with it” state of mind. It took a slightly silly crosscheck from Andy Munroe at 30:51 to finally break the deadlock with Corey McEwen whipping home a powerplay goal on the backstick from a Martins Susters feed. A rather unfortunate high sticking call on Brandon Miles soon after the restart set up Phantoms for another special teams assault and this time it was James White who scored in close from Corey McEwen. With the Mos heads starting to drop at the all too familiar rapid deterioration in the scoreline, Petr Stepanek crashed one home for good measure to give Phantoms a game-safe 3-0 lead at the second break.
Just to mix things up a little in the final period, Petr Stepanek broke away to nail a shorthander on 50:38 to end the scoring and leave the scoreline comfortable for Phantoms but not too humiliating for the Mos who showed great spirit and resolve throughout and underlined once again that if they could simply resource three or four experienced players then they would become a distinctly awkward team for any side to take on.
Phantoms MOM went to two goal Petr Stepanek.
Game stats HERE