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Phantoms run riot against Romford - Phantoms 9 Raiders 3
PHANTOMS 9 ROMFORD RAIDERS 3
PHANTOMS 9 ROMFORD RAIDERS 3English Premier League
SATURDAY night's clash with resurgent Romford was supposed to be a big test for Phantoms.
Since former Bretton favourite Jesse Hammill took over at the start of the year, the Essex club have been transformed and the Raiders arrived at the Peterborough Arena with a spring in their step after three wins in a row.
In fact, such was the confidence going into this clash with the English Premier League leaders – a team they pushed hard last time out – the Essex boys decided to go for broke and try to take Phantoms on toe-to-toe.
But the decision backfired big time and Hammill's play-off hopefuls left a badly beaten team – outworked, outshot and outclassed.
From the moment Dwayne Newman opened the scoring with his first of the season to the point when Craig Peacock brought an end to the massacre with his 45th, Phantoms ran riot.
In between those particularly tasty bookends were goals for Brent Gough (2), Maris Ziedins, Callum Fowler and Peacock whose blistering hat-trick at the start of the second period pretty much negated the need for a third.
The win was Phantoms' sixth in a row and they took their tally to a blistering 25 goals in the last three home games.
But despite his side's current form and total dominance in Bretton of late, coach Colin Patterson is well aware that greater challenges lie ahead as his team seek to claim the EPL crown they so richly deserve.
He said: "I think you could really see that the guys came here to play against Romford and they got the rewards with a big win.
"They made it hard for us at the start but we worked hard to take control and when Newman scored I think that gave us all a big lift.
"Sometimes in games like that it is about getting the breakthrough and once we had ours we pushed it home. But we needed some good netminding from Stephen Wall too and I thought the defence performed really well. We worked hard as a unit and that gave us the platform we needed.
"But we have some very tough games coming up and we know that we are there to be shot at. Everyone wants to beat us now, they want to spoil the party and we just have to make sure we give it everything in every game now to make sure that doesn't happen."And the way way Raiders began this game it was pretty obviously not going to happen on Saturday night.
While both Danny Marshall and Andrej Sporina began brightly for the visitors – both forcing smart stops from Wall in the early exchanges – the Raiders seemed disinclined to make much effort at the other end.
Strange for a club which has used two of its import slots on the hulking forms of Jan Krajicek and Michail Palik.
But instead of doing the jobs they are paid for, both defencemen seemed more intent on bombing forward than stopping Phantoms do the same.
So when the puck fell to Newman on the blueline there was no-one within a stick's length as the 'Dog' sent his shot sizzling into the top right-hand corner of Carl Ambler's goal.
It was the Canadian's first of the season and brought a fitting response from the Bretton faithful who were back on their feet minutes later for Newman's all together more prolific compatriot Gough when he fired home after a swift powerplay break.
And just before the end of the period Gough was on target again, finishing off Peacock's pass at the back post to give his side a 3-0 lead at the buzzer.
By this stage Raiders were wobbling badly such was the authority and incisiveness of Phantoms play.
It was Peacock then who stepped up to deliver the knockout punch with three goals in as many minutes at the start of the middle act.
His second was the pick of the bunch after flying down the right before cutting across and delaying his shot perfectly before lifting the puck over Ambler.
By this stage Romford's beleaguered stopper had had enough and he was replaced between the pipes by Glen Jackson, whose first job was to pick the puck out of his net when Maris Ziedins slammed home a sumptuous back-handed drive on 30 minutes.
Phantoms backed off briefly at this point which did allow Matt Turner and Pilak to ease some of the Raiders' shame.
Early in the final period however Fowler exposed Romford once again when he somehow nipped the puck past Jackson while actually standing behind the goal.
Former Bretton man Darren Cotton then made it 8-3 but it was Phantoms, and in particular Peacock, who had the last word when he wriggled past Palik and pinged in his fourth of the night to complete the rout.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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