A difficult derby day for Peterborough Phantoms after a great win on the road

​The visitors showed just why they are topping the National League standings deep into the regular season as they eased to a 6-1 Sunday evening win.

Phantoms had delivered an excellent performance of their own the night before when winning 5-2 at third-placed Swindon Wildcats, but they had no answer to MK after they had scored twice in the opening four minutes.

It’s all about carrying momentum into the upcoming play-offs for Phantoms who are fifth of 11 teams with six games to go.

The first of which is a return clash at MK on Saturday (7pm face-off) before they host Sheffield Steeldogs on Sunday (5.30pm).

The play-offs are scheduled to start on March 29 with Finals Weekend in Coventry on April 19/20.

Standings

MK L 48 35 75

Leeds 47 36 11 73

Swindon 48 30 18 66

Hull 48 27 21 60

PHANTOMS 48 27 21 55

Sheffield 39 26 23 54

Raiders 47 21 26 46

Telford 49 20 29 44

Solway 48 18 30 39

Berkshire 48 13 35 30

Bristol 48 11 37 30

v MK

Scott Robson actually struck the crossbar for Phantoms with a powerful strike before MK stole into that early lead with goals from former city player Jordan Cownie and player-coach Tim Wallace.

Phantoms needed netminder Hayden Lavigne to make a big save and Robson to pull off a decisive block before they settled down, but they failed to convert numerous powerplay opportunities with Luke Ferrara coming closest to scoring.

Lavigne again stood tall to save a penalty shot from Carter Hamill and it remained 2-0 at the end of the first period.

Superior finishing enabled MK to stretch the lead to 3-0 by the end of the second session. Phantoms were again given several powerplay opportunities but failed to take any and they missed a penalty shot of their own when Ferrara was thwarted by Jordan Headley.

That seemed to knock the stuffing out of the home side as Dillon Lawrence struck twice for MK in the final period, once from the third penalty shot of the contest.

Wallace also added a late short-handed goal before Cam Hough netted a 58th-minute consolation for Phantoms.

Jasper Foster was named Phantoms man of the match.

v Swindon

A blistering start to the final period ensured a super success for Phantoms in Wiltshire.

Two goals from Ferrara had given Slava Koulikov’s side a slender 2-1 lead after two fiercely contested periods.

But Nathan Salem, Brad Bowering and Hough all scored in the opening six minutes of the final session, as did Swindon’s Reed Sayers, to put Phantoms firmly in control.

Swindon had kept in touch earlier in the game by surviving a five-minute powerplay as tempers boiled over. Jarvis Hunt was named Phantoms man-of-the-match.