Pollard finishes playing career on a high, but Peterborough Phantoms are still struggling for wins

The forward will not play again for a side he has represented in over 550 matches to concentrate on coaching the club. He stepped into the breach last month following the departure of Ash Tait.

And it was almost a dream finale for Pollard whose goal on Sunday dragged Phantoms back to 4-4 from 4-1 down with just five minutes to play against National League leaders MK Lightning at Planet Ice, but the visitors eased away again to win 6-4.

Phantoms had also lost 6-4 at Telford Tigers the night before and stay next-to-bottom of the table. They are already 10 points adrift of the play-off places after winning just four of 17 matches. Phantoms have just one match next weekend with the Sheffield Steeldogs visiting Planet Ice on Sunday (November 15, 5.30pm face-off).

Standings: 1 MK P16 28pts, 2 Hull P16 26pts, 3 Leeds P16 22pts, 4 Romford P17 21pts, 5 Telford P16 20pts, 6 Swindon P14 20pts, 7 Basingstoke P17 18pts, 8 Sheffield P16 18pts, 9 Solway P16 10pts, 10 PHANTOMS P17 8pts, 11 Bristol P16 5pts.

Pollard said: “Growing up, I dreamed of pulling on the Peterborough shirt, and to have played over 550 games for the club’s teams, and to have won 13 trophies are things I’ll always be incredibly proud of. Every trophy felt special because of the incredible teammates and the special fans I shared it with.

"I’m excited for the next chapter behind the bench, giving everything I can to keep making everyone proud of this team.”

Pollard’s strike against MK came short-handed following a breakaway orchestrated by Luke Ferrara. It followed two goals in a minute towards the end of the second session from Adam Berg and Janne Laakkonen which had reduced the MK lead from three goals to one. Laakkonen was assisted by young Louie Kynaston.

But the title fancies showed their class after getting caught and Liam Stewart pounced on a rebound after netminder Will Bray had saved well from Carter Hamill. Andy Hazeldine completed the scoring in the final minute after Bray had been withdrawn in favour of an extra outfield skater.

Hazeldine had opened the scoring in the second minute before Phantoms rallied. Pollard was denied by a strong save before Phantoms drew level in the final minute the first period as Rais Francis capped his home debut with a goal, finding the net from a feed by Laakkonen.

MK looked to have taken a firm grip of the game with three goals in three minutes from David Thomson (2) and Hamill, but Phantoms fought back impressively to offer hope of better results to come.

It was a case of too little too late for Phantoms in Telford. They were 6-2 down before Flynn Massie and Ferrara struck in the final 10 minutes. Ferrara was completing his hat-trick after goals in each of the first two periods. His first two goals made it 2-2 midway through the game, but the Tigers roared away with four unanswered goals to effectively seal the win.

Ferrara was named man-of-the-match in Telford with Pollard, naturally, taking the honours against MK.