Phantoms are shot down in Flames for the fifth time - Guildford 5 Phantoms 3
GUILDFORD FLAMES 5 PHANTOMS 3 English Premier League
GUILDFORD FLAMES 5
PHANTOMS 3
English Premier LeaguePHANTOMS' title hopes took a turn for the worse on Saturday night after a 5-3 defeat in Guildford.
A second reverse inside a week against the reigning English Premier League champions left the city side relegated to third position in the English Premier League table as MK Lightning also moved past them with a comfortable home victory against struggling Wightlink.
The result means Colin Patterson's side have picked up just three points from a possible 12 against the Flames who have won on five of the six occasions the two teams have met this season.
Luckily Phantoms - who are chasing a first EPL crown in six years - do still have two games in hand on both MK and Guildford, which could yet see them pull clear with easier games to come. But games in hand are only of value when won.
And winning was something Patterson and his players had failed to do in their last two leagues games before Saturday night.
That didn't look like changing after Ollie Bronnimann had fired home two unanswered goals in the first period to leave Phantoms playing catch-up.
Patterson said: "We were all very disappointed with the result in Guildford as we knew it was a massive game for us and our last chance to beat them in regular season hockey.
"But we didn't get the break and it was tough going in two down after a fairly tight first period.
"We outshot them over the night, we just found ourselves up against some great goaltending from Joe Watkins who made some excellent saves.
"Our record against them has not been good but that is not to say that I do not think we are as good as them, I do. But they have been getting the breaks and that is important with two well balanced sides.
"I thought we played well and worked hard as a team but we just couldn't get the puck to go in for us when we pulled it back to 4-3. Sometimes it just goes like that.
"But there is still a long way to go in this season and we will not be giving up because we lost in Guildford, which is something a lot of teams do.
"If we go on to win the league it will be because of our form against other teams. So far that has been as good, if not better, than anyone else so we still have a great chance."After a typically frenetic opening, it was Guildford who struck first when Bronnimann pounced on Neal Liddiard's pass to fire past Stephen Wall after 11 minutes of the first period.
Bronnimann then went on to score again two minutes before the end of the opening act to make an already tough job a whole lot tougher for Phantoms, who despite matching their hosts chance for chance, were finding Watkins unbeatable between the pipes.
Shortly into the middle period and Brent Gough did find a way through and while Milos Melicherik reacted well to restore his side's two-goal cushion minutes later, Craig Peacock's second goal in as many games gave Phantoms real hope at 3-2.
Sadly that hope faded when Rick Plant lit the lamp shortly before the end of the second and while skipper Lewis Buckman managed to pull Phantoms to within one goal early in the last, Rob Lamey's well-placed effort from Lukas Smital's pass proved to be the decisive blow.
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Weather for Peterborough
Saturday 20 March 2010
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