ICE HOCKEY: Tigers pounce in overtime thriller

                         

Manchester Phoenix         2          3     Telford Tigers 

 (after Overtime)   

The Reigning EPL (English Premier League) champions the Manchester Phoenix came up just short in an absolute barnburner of a game at the Altrincham Ice dome on Sunday night as they fell to the big spending Telford Tigers in overtime. 
Manchester have been experiencing a somewhat up and down start to their season so far and with some injuries to key players not particularly helping their cause either, though victories over the last couple of weeks in the shape of NIHL (National Ice Hockey League) sides the Billingham Stars and the Blackburn Hawks had seemed to inject some confidence in the side and they hoped they could transform cup form into league form against the league leaders.

Manchester came out on fire from the opening face-off and put on without doubt, their best period display of the season to date with a fantastic team effort. The Phoenix gave a stern test to their visitors the Telford Tigers, with the home side having the Tigers defence in knots a fair few times in the opening period and was their first test against their title rivals at home. 

 Tom Murdy between the pipes for the visitors was always equal to the home attack and he denied the hosts with some key saves that would otherwise have ended up in the back of the net normally. Telford's attack was dealt with brilliantly by the home side as the visitors never had a sniff in the opening 20 minutes of play, with the forwards back checking to help out their team-mates and looked solid throughout.

Manchester`s defense has been found wanting on many occasions this season so far but a solid shift by Joe Graham and fellow Nottingham-born defenseman James Neil, saw the pair making important plays in the back line.  Phoenix had been knocking more and more upon the Tigers door yet they just weren't able to beat Murdy as the netminder made save after save stopping the puck.  The hosts general play was easy on the eye and the only thing missing was a goal, that all changed then at 15-15 in the game when a quick passing move saw Captain Luke Boothroyd and Michal Psurny set up Adam Walker, who converted from close range to give the champions a deserved lead for 1-0.

Manchester carved out many chances in the opening period and saw some sublime pieces of passing and team play, that really should have seen the Phoenix a couple goals up. Telford in their offensive play was limited to their shots coming from the outside mainly, where the home defence really was well and truly on top of one of the most lethal strike forces in the league. 

The period came to an end and saw the hosts go into the first break a goal up and was very deserving of that lead due to their superb defensive and attacking play, that would have had many teams in trouble.

In the second period it saw a more even game, with the Tigers starting to feel their way back into the match as a Max Birbraer blast found the hot glove of Steve Fone and where the Phoenix netminder looked focus  in the game and letting the opposition know that the hosts were up for a battle in this game and would be a tough nut to crack.

Fone was on call (no pun intended) for the hosts in the middle stanza, with the Telford forwards beginning to find their rhythm finally and looked a much stiffer outfit than the one in the first. In truth Telford didn't really play that badly at all it was just mainly that Manchester played at a much higher tempo and executed their game plan better and was something the visitors didn`t deal with it.

Luke Boothroyd then almost gave the Tigers a great chance at coming back in the game early in the second, as the Phoenix captain started an attack from behind his own goal and then lost an edge skating out towards the front of his own goals and saw the defenceman hit the deck, but had Telford unable to capitalise on the slip up so to speak, with the home side rescuing the situation. 

 Telford`s travelling support was making their voices heard in the far corner of the rink as they tried to push their side on as they looked to get back into the contest. At 32-24 that was just what happened, when play down by the corner saw both sides fighting for the puck and when Jason Silverthorn gained possession of it he fired home from the tightest of angles and managed to somehow beat Fone at his near post tying the game at 1-1.

Telford then began to edge play and saw them starting to have the momentum swinging their way with the closing stages of the period fastly approaching. With less than a minute of play to go it saw the Tigers go on quick rush with Peter Szabo skating on goal before then making a drop pass to former Phoenix man Joe Miller and the Welshman was stopped by Fone, play then quickly went up the opposite way where Psurny cleared to Tony Hand and his pass from his own zone found Frantisek Bakrlik, whose wrist shot found the top shelf to beat Tom Murdy and have the home side regain the lead with 30 seconds left on the period.

In the 3rd period a tightly contested match ebbed and flowed between the two sides which had both teams having chances early on, Phoenix then reverted to their old ways in defence and left a huge gap at the back after being caught out far too high up the ice too often that then led to a 2 on 1 break for Telford and saw them make full use of it.  Joe Miller broke down the left side and then passed across goal and the evading block of Boothroyd to see Silverthorn net his second goal of the game with a simple tap in at the backdoor with Fone pulled out of position to draw level for the second time.

The leaders then thought they had gone 3-2 ahead in the match very soon after, when Jason Silverthorn put the puck in the net only to see the goal washed-out by match official Steve Brown who had ruled that Peter Szabo performed a hand pass in the lead to the goal being scored. 

From the replays the match official called it correctly and despite Silverthorn trying in vain to argue his case against it being a no-goal, it fell on deaf ears.  Telford grew more in the contest with the Phoenix seemingly showing tiredness in their play and led to them making a couple of mistakes, one of which led to the Tigers tying goal. 
Steve Fone then made a string of top draw saves to stop thwart the Tigers attack performing a double save whilst on a penalty kill that saw him stopping a near certain goal from Sam Zajac and then a rebound off Silverthorn to keep the game level at 2-2.

Both teams were unable to find the winning goal in regulation so the game headed to an overtime period to see who take the extra point on offer and take one off their rivals. Phoenix tried to find some energy from their reserved for the extra period as the short benched champions were hanging on for the final five minutes of the game and wished they had the luxury of extra men on their bench something that the visitors had.
Phoenix though did start the brighter of the two sides and had a couple of chances on Murdy, but nothing that was really going to trouble the Tigers goaltender in reality.

With the scoreboard signalling less than a minute of play to go in overtime, it saw an attempted clearance by Bakrlik knocked down towards the middle of Phoenix zone where upon Jason Silverthorn was fed by Dan Davies and the former Hull Stingray had enough time to flip it high up into the Phoenix net for the game winner and saw the Tigers beat the champions 3-2.

Steve Fone won Man of the Match for the home side as the Phoenix number one, played an absolute blinder to keep his side in the game late on, of that there is no doubt.
His team mates certainly tired towards the middle of the third and that loss means now that Fone has recorded only one win on home ice this season for the Phoenix and will be something he is keen to turn around. 

 For Telford it sees them opening up a 4 point gap at the top of the EPL table and for Manchester, it`s a case of dropping more points against their rivals and are now 10 points behind the leaders with a game in hand.

Phoenix will look to bounce back to winning ways this coming Thursday night at the Ice dome, when they take on the rejuvenated  and surprised package in the league this season the Peterborough Phantoms, Phantoms currently occupy third place in the table and sees Manchester sitting in sixth position two points behind the Guildford Flames and will be a tough game for the Phoenix as well.

ICE HOCKEY: Phoenix Bring Down The Hawks

         

MANCHESTER   PHOENIX    12   -   5   BLACKBURN HAWKS

Manchester Phoenix picked up a confidence boosting win in the English Premier League Cup on Sunday night when they beat local rivals the Blackburn Hawk 12-5, Czech Forward Frantisek Bakrlik bagging four goals for the hosts and saw youngster Jared Dickson scoring a 2nd period hat trick too in the big win.

Over the years matches between the Blackburn Hawks and the Trafford Metros or Manchester Storm, always produced physical and gruelling encounters and the start of this game saw that trend continuing. The atmosphere in the rink certainly had that feel of a derby occasion with a big crowd inside the Altrincham ice dome and had plenty of Hawks fans making the journey down the M61 to renew an old rivalry. Despite the fact the teams are separated by one league, it saw the league leaders in the National Ice Hockey League North Moralee (NIHL) division, taking on the reigning English Premier League Champions and the opening period saw them evenly matched and made a thrilling opening period.

It witnessed incredible start to the game, that saw the visitors take the lead with just 10 seconds gone in the match, after a mix up involving Phoenix Captain Luke Boothroyd and netminder Declan Ryan, that led to the puck going through the legs of the netminder as he was unaware of where the puck was and it stunned the home fans. Blackburn had a little purple patch, in which they were extremely dangerous going forward and had the nonexistent Manchester defense getting caught out on numerous occasions. Phoenix though levelled the game up at 4-36 when Frantisek Bakrlik scored his first of the night with a lazer shot that went over Daniel Brittle shoulder and pinged in off the pipe work to make it 1-1.

One soon became two, as fellow Czech forward Robin Kovar grabbed the 2nd Manchester goal at 5-01 with Shaun Thompson picking up an assist to help the hosts go in front. Blackburn though wasn't going to cave in after shipping in two quick goals and so saw the top scorer for the NIHL side in Adam Brittle, fire in an equaliser that tied the game up and saw a crazy opening to this derby clash. Manchester then seemed to use the second Hawks goal as a big wake-up call in the game, and from that point onwards they seemed to be focused more in the contest. Bakrlik then made it 3-2 to Phoenix with 7-32 gone in the game, as Bobby Chamberlain and Luke Boothroyd were credited with assists as the import forward grabbed his second goal of the game and saw him displaying his deadly finishing ability.

Blackburn much to their credit never gave up and had a couple of chance on Declan Ryan, with the netminder seemingly to be a bit rattled by the early goals conceded at the start. The Hawks had a bit of family affair in their ranks, with Daniel between the pipes and had Adam and Luke causing trouble upfront as they were connecting well and saw Ryan and his defence, having to make some defensive blocks. Jack Watkins then slipped the puck under the goalie for 4-2 to the hosts at 9-50 in the period, after a lovely pass by Adam Walker across the face of the goal saw the young British forward skate to the front of the net and push it goal wards for a nice Phoenix move, that saw them open up a two goal cushion.

Ollie Lomax of the Hawks then picked up a Hooking penalty and saw the Phoenix have a powerplay opportunity, to which Bakrlik fired into the back of the net to see the Czech man complete his hat trick with the assist on the goal going to Thompson at 16-00. In truth the score line seemed to be a tad harsh on the Blackburn side, as they weren`t getting outplayed totally by their rivals, they was punished by the EPL side who just had too much quality for them and jumped on the errors. The opening 20 minutes of the game saw a very entertaining game of hockey and had the Phoenix lead 5-2.

If there any questions about the difference in quality between the EPL and the NIHL sides, that question was answered in the second period when the Phoenix blitzed the Hawks with Six goals during the period that all but finished the Hawks off.  The period also witnessed an unlikely hat trick hero in the form of Jared Dickinson, as the young Salfordian forward bagged his first hat trick in Phoenix colours, in just under 8 minutes to see the crowd erupt for the Phoenix forward. In the remodelled EPL Cup tournament, the format is a good way to give extra ice time to the younger players in the squad that may not have been given much playing time so far, and blood junior players too. Dickinson however made full use of his ice time and grasped it with both hands, as his second goal shown he had grown in confidence a lot and saw a nice little move on Brittle that made it 7-2 to the home side .

Adam Brittle then launched a bolt from the blue line that nearly took Ryan head off in the Phoenix goals, as the puck struck the underside of the bar and bounced in to give the travelling Blackburn fans something to cheer in the middle period, as it was one a painful one to watch for the Hawks, as the strike made it 7-3 at 28-55 with Chris Arnone picking up an assist. Dickinson then scored his hat trick goal at 29-52, with Thompson picking up his third assist of the game along with James Neil, to see the hosts moving towards double figures. Manchester scored three further goals in the period, with Bakrlik, Kovar and Chamberlain all netting for the hosts, and saw the score at the end of the second period reading 11-3 to Phoenix and was very much all one way traffic in the middle stanza.  We did see a little tiny bit of needle between the players, as Adam Walker and Pavel Slowik had a little disagreement and saw Walker clearly annoyed with the Hawks import defence man as they tangled going for the puck and led to him shoving the Blackburn player on his derriere and led to both being penalised after the whistle.

With some people wondering if the Phoenix would ease up or try to aim for their club record score, it then saw the Hawks make a mini fight back as Blackburn struck back twice quickly in succession with Adam Brittle netting at 43-15 and then Jared Owen making it 11-5 to the home side at 43-27, as Luke Brittle grabbed an assisted on it. Less than a minute later, the Phoenix responded through Bobby Chamberlain who put in a excellent shift during the build up to the goal and seen him make it 12-5 to the EPL Champions. It saw also the under 18`s getting more ice time than in previous games, as it gave them gain valuable experience with Mike Gilbert going close a debut goal at the back of the second period. Richard Ravey was then called for Hooking at 47-06 and looked a very poor decision by the match official, which led to Luke Brittle talking out of line to the Steve Brown and subsequently saw him pick up a 10 minute misconduct call for Abuse of official.

Overall, a good confidence boosting win for the Phoenix saw them end the weekend on a high note, after they suffered a 4-3 loss down in Basingstoke and sees them next weekend making the trip up north to Scotland to face the Solway Sharks, before the hosting the big spending Telford Tigers at home. Man of the match went to Adam Brittle of the visiting Hawks and Jared Dickinson for the home side, as it saw the forward lead the traditional ‘Phoenix wave’ as they send their fans home happy with a win over their long time rivals.

RUGBY: Last Gasp Drama Robs Sharks Of Famous Win

SALE SHARKS                       26 - 27           MUNSTER RUGBY

Sale Sharks suffered a heartbreaking loss to their opening group game of the new European Rugby Cup competition, as a last gasp drop goal by Munster`s Ian Keatley, saw the Irish club take victory in what was a thrilling game of rugby at the AJ Bell stadium with the visitors taking the win 27-26.

Depending on which side of the fence you sit on, you could arguably make a couple of cases for the loss for the Sharks. Either they let the game slip away from their grasp or it was the opponent experience of these games that let two-time winners of this competition in its former format, finding their way to victory. The game also saw the biggest crowd for a Sale Sharks game since they moved to the AJ Bell Stadium last season from Edgeley Park, but also saw a lot of travelling red shirted Munster fans, as they made the trip over from Ireland for this big clash. It saw the hosts make their traditional good start to the match, when they were awarded an early penalty for foul play by the visitors and saw the Sharks attack from the kick off. 

The Sharks then found a gap in the Munster backline when a pass by Danny Cipriani found Johnny Leota and the Samoan broke free, but then tried to offload to the wrong player up in support with him, and saw a knock on by Sale to see an opportunity goes begging.

Munster was then penalised at the scrum and had Cipriani slot over with a kick to give the Sharks a 3-0 lead after 5 minutes into the contest. Munster tried to strike back straight away and had Irish International Simon Zebo using his pace to cause the Sale defence problems and saw him help his side move up field.

This then led to the visitors getting points on the board, as their strength and power in their pack saw them driving a maul towards the Sale try line, and from there Dave Kilcoyne forced his way over for Munster to take the lead with Ian Keatley converting the extras. Sale then cut the lead to just one point, when Cipriani kicked over a penalty for a 7-6 lead to their opponents after quarter of an hour gone in the match.

Referee Mathieu Raynal then picked up a freak injury, when Michael Paterson accidently clipped the back of the officials leg as he was retreating for the restart and saw Raynal in lot of discomfort. Raynal was coming back from a horrific injury he sustained last during a French league match, in which he broke both his legs in a sickening incident, he was then replaced by fellow Frenchman Laurent Cardona as Raynal was helped off the pitch to signal the end of his game

Sale then went back in front with another penalty by Cipriani, with the English fly half moving the Sharks 9-7 in front and reminding the England selectors about a possible recall with his kicking game. In the 23rd minute, the Sharks moved ahead by 9 points as the home side was forcing Munster back to their own goal line and then saw Magnus Lund who was the only surviving member of the last time these teams met, quickly pick up and plant the ball over the line for a try to see them 14-7 up with Cipriani kicking superbly.

It got better for the home side soon after, with the Sharks side dominating Munster in the entire first half and led them to score another try, with Johnny Leota dummying his way through the opposition and going over to see the score move onto 23-7 with another kick converted by Cipriani, to see the Sharks in a commanding position in the game. 

Sale came close to scoring a third try, but a challenge by Tommy O`Donnell on Chris Cusiter during a good move by Sale, saw him take the Scottish forward without the ball and so saw the Munster man sin binned and had his hold out from the following attack by the Sharks, to go into the break with a lot of thinking to do.

With Sale in total control of the game, Munster went into the break going having to go back to the drawing board, with the Sharks playing a good fast paced game that Munster unable to deal with.

Munster looked like a completely different side after the break and the Pro 12 side enjoyed the majority of possession they had as they looked to try and work their way back into the contest. The Red Army should have made more of a fantastic passing move that had the Sale defence caught napping and saw Andrew Conway dropping the ball at the worst time to let the Sharks off the hook. However it wasn`t to be for much longer, as Conway made up for his error a few minutes later with the right-winger managing to go over in the corner for try and see the lead cut back to 9 point deficit.

The crowd was really up for this, as both sides were willing their respective sides on for the final 20 minutes of the game. Conor Murray then scored Munster`s third try of the game, with the visitors completely changing the face of the game and saw Sale having no or limited ball possession in the half, with the Munster forwards forcing the game and seeing Sale rocked.

Cipriani then kicked over a penalty and was must needed for the hosts, as they were getting pulverised by the Munster side in the second half and was just happy to take points that was on offer, as they tried to keep the scoreboard ticking over with 12 minutes remaining in this tight contest.

Ian Keatley then responded straight away for the visitors, as he converted a penalty for the Irish side and saw the game move into the final 10 minutes of an enthralling contest that saw the game separated by just two points and the game possibly going either way. Sale then had a rare attack in the second half and that saw Munster turnover a ball outside their own 22 and a great kick by JJ Hanrahan had him find touch deep inside the Sharks half.  It saw the Sharks finding a gap as they looked to play their way out of trouble, but some indecision by Cipriani saw the home side having to be at their best for one final defensive effort, as they looked to thwart the likelihood of a drop goal chance by the visitors late on.

Munster led one final assault on the Sharks goals and with time over, it saw Keatley shaping up to kick but had to change plans, with Cusiter charging fast at him inside the Sale 22. Munster then moved the ball back inside the Sale 22 and then with the ball sent backwards to Keatley, he made no mistake under pressure and this time watched it sail through the posts for a drop goal and send the travelling Red Army fans jubilant and the Sale players and fans distraught.

It has to be said though, Munster was the clear favourites heading into the game and yet the Sharks gave them a hell of a game and have no reason to be down, as they battered the Munster side for 40 minutes of the game and not many sides will be able to say they did that to the Limerick based side, in either this competition or Pro 12 this season. 

Munster though shown why yet again, they are so tough to beat and can never write them off as they have the quality and belief to come back, despite the big lead that the Sharks had opened at the break.

 For Steve Diamond and men a trip over the channel awaits and where they face Clermont Auvergne next week in another tough group game. 

However the last time Sale played Clermont in Europe, they beat them on their own patch 32-15 back in 2008 and so they`ll be hoping lightning strikes twice.  

 

POOL A:

Pos	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	F-A	TF	MP	BP	Pts
1	Saracens	1	1	0	0	30	23	+7	4	5	1	5
2	Munster	1	1	0	0	27	26	+1	3	4	0	4
3	Sale Sharks	1	0	0	1	26	27	-1	2	1	1	1
4	Clermont Auvergne	1	0	0	1	23	30	-7	2	1	1	1

ICE HOCKEY: Wasteful Phoenix get bitten by the Dogs

MANCHESTER PHOENIX  2 - 3  SHEFFIELD STEELDOGS

An overtime winner saw the Manchester Phoenix beaten by their bitter rivals the Sheffield Steeldogs at the Altrincham ice dome on Thursday Night, as the side from the white rose county had more than Lady Luck on their side in the contest. The hosts posted 63 shots on the Steeldogs goal and dominated the game, yet they still unbelievably found themselves on the losing side as they went down 3-2 in overtime.

The pre match talk was how this game was going to be played after last week penalty strewn contest at Ice Sheffield, which saw 214 penalty minutes handed out between the two sides with Sheffield taking a 138 minutes if them in the match. 

From the outset it seemed like this would be much rather a hockey game than a repeat of their last encounter, with both sides testing the netminders Dalibor Sedlar and Steve Fone in the opening couple of minutes.

A Newcomer to the Phoenix this season in British forward Bobby Chamberlain, saw him ring one of the post with and had the Steeldogs defence having to be on their toes, with Manchester very much having their tails up so to speak.  With all the pressure they were putting on their visitors, it seemed a goal would eventually come and unfortunately for the home side it did but came the way of the opposition.  Adam Walker tried to play a blind pass and produced a turnover instead, just outside the Sheffield zone and saw the Steel city side drive hard with a counter attack, which saw the Phoenix defence having a lapse in concentration and allowing Lubomir Korhon to put the puck home with Andrew Hirst and Steve Duncombe assisting on the goal at 4:41 in the game.

Manchester then had a powerplay chance, after Cam Brownley was called for Slashing and with not much in the way of shooting with the extra man advantage it then saw Czech forward Frantisek Bakrlik fire an absolute rocket by Sedlar, but the pipework yet again denied the hosts a goal as his shot hit both goal posts.

Sheffield seemed to use a tactic from the Phoenix playbook, in which they countered with a quick rush up ice and try to catch the home side out, Phoenix did also contribute to their near downfalls it has to be said, with the defence failing to clear their lines and had Hirst collect a puck in the middle of the zone and when he tried to get a shot away all he could muster was a fanned shot.

Sedlar in the Sheffield nets was making a few good saves to help his side maintain a clean sheet in the contest, as the netminder dealt with a lot of low shots coming at him and despite him facing the rubber thirty times in the opening period, the shots didn`t have much conviction on them and had the Steeldogs doing a good job keeping the Phoenix shots to the outside.

Manchester struck the goal post for the third time in the period, as a Shaun Thompson effort came back off the post and had Sedlar scrambling to clear it away from danger and the hosts must have thought they were never going score in the game. 

Walker for the hosts had a good chance for the hosts after he managed to skate round the back line, but the Scottish forward tried to go high on Sedlar and his shot struck the face mask of Sedlar and so play was stopped dead. Greg Wood then picked up a High Sticks calls when he accidently caught Robin Kovar in the face from a face off, so that put the home side on a powerplay and yet again was unable to convert, with the Steeldogs heading  1-0 up after the opening twenty minutes.

Sheffield started to throw their weight around a bit in the second period, with player-coach Andre Payette being the main advocate in that aspect of the game, but he did get some back too when Ben Wood dished out a hit on the Sheffield man to show Manchester weren`t shying away either. Phoenix was still trying hard to find this opening goal and just about everything seemed to elude them in search of it, with Sedlar producing a few good stops and getting to all incoming shots.

Sheffield doubled their lead at 30.46 as it all came from a counter attack by Phoenix, that saw Michal Psurny skate down the right wing before passing across the front of goal to Tony Hand, but the player coach try to control it instead of shooting first time and saw him dispossessed, which then led to a break out by Sheffield themselves and Tim Smith and Lee Haywood combined to send the puck up ice towards Korhon which saw the forward finish it off to see the visitors lead 2-0.

Manchester was piling the pressure on in attack so much, that they were leaving big gaps at the back and was getting caught out a few times in the period, as Korhon nearly completed a hat trick himself but luckily for the hosts, Fone got a piece of the puck stopping him scoring. Sedlar then made a double save after a Kovar pass to the front of the goals for Bakrlik saw the goalie come up big to stop him and then make another save from the rebounded shot that came off his defenseman legs.

Finally the hosts scores at 36.41, when Phoenix was throwing caution to the wind and looking out of ideas, before another shot came off the pipe work from a Bakrlik shot and had Kovar with the presence of mind to quickly collect the puck from behind the goal and put it in for 2-1. Payette seemed to cost his side the goal, with the player coach sacrificing his defensive duties as he instead persisted in trying to wind up Johan Burlin on the blue line.

We then had a bizarre call from referee Andy Miller, when the official gave a Delay of Game call against Manchester during a face off and had both sides looking confused over the call, with everyone else in the rink confused as well.

In the third period the hosts pushed hard for the tying goal, and it became like the Alamo in the Sheffield zone with the Phoenix unrelenting pressure piling up. Chamberlain once more struck the post for the home side and it was a case now of not if but when the goal would come for Manchester.

Then at 46.40 the equaliser came in the shape of Captain Luke Boothroyd, when the Phoenix defenseman skated unchallenged in the Sheffield zone and saw the captain snap a shot over the shoulder of Sedlar to make it 2-2, and all to play for the remaining 13 minutes.

Phoenix had to kill off a 5 on 3 powerplay for Sheffield, with Chamberlain sitting for a Tripping call and then Boothroyd who picked up a mystery call for Hooking.

Payette then picked up his traditional penalty as he was called for High Sticks, and that gave Phoenix another powerplay, but they weren`t able to get anything meaningful on the goaltender at all, with some defending by the Steeldogs.

Then with 58 seconds remaining in the game, a couple of soft calls went again the home side with Joe Graham called for a Tripping on Lloyd Gibson which looked dubious, then Psurny checked the same player into the boards and had referee Miller call him for Boarding. Graham when he was called was irate while in the penalty box and as he slammed his stick with disgust, the official gave him an additional 10 minute call for Abuse of Official.

As we headed to overtime, it saw the visitors start on a 5 on 3 powerplay and had the referee seemingly give a makeup call for the two previous ones, as the three penalties given in the space of a minute was poor officiating, but saw Gibson penalised for Hooking at 60.11 to see a 4 on 3 powerplay for the visitors.

All penalties got killed off and saw the end of the game come soon after, with Gibson just come out of the penalty box as his penalty expired, and when the puck was played towards him in the neutral zone it then saw Gibson skate freely to unleash a shot that beat Fone down to this right side, and give the Steeldogs a 3-2 win in overtime and the extra point too. After the game and handshakes saw a little bit of a heated discussion between a couple of players and that saw both player coaches receiving 10 minutes each, with Hand receiving a Abuse of Official and Payette a Misconduct call.

It was very much a case of Manchester not being clinical enough in front of the net and as if you get 63 shots on target, then you should be burying at least five to ten shots in the back of the net. It had gone unnoticed, but Phoenix did move to the top of the table with the one point they picked up, but it is likely to be a short stay for Manchester, with the other title contenders looking more equipped than that of Manchester so far in the season.

RUGBY: SHARKS DEFENCE SHOW BITE AS WASPS ARE SWATTED

 

SALE SHARKS   25 - 14 WASPS   

Sale Sharks produced a fantastic defensive display on Sunday afternoon as they defeated the London Wasps 25-14 at the A.J Bell Stadium, to leapfrog their opponents into Eighth position in the AVIVA PREMIERSHIP with a very hard fought victory and one that saw the hosts on the back foot for a majority of the match. 

The Sharks have been unlucky so far this season in their matches, as they ran Bath close at home before just running out of gas against another top side in Gloucester and then saw them pick up their only win this season, with a comfortable win over new boys London Welsh before being taken apart by Saracens last weekend. Sale was hoping to pick up a much needed win over Wasps, as the Sharks have had a great record over their opponents in recent seasons.

Sale pressured the Wasps side early on the game as they caused them a few problems at the start, especially in the scrums after Sharks coach Steve Diamond named a new front row for the Sharks, after last week when they was dismantled by Saracens. That early aggressive pressure put on by the hosts, led to them  scoring the game opening  try as some nice fast hands down the left flank saw Tom Arscott finish nicely in the corner to score his fifth try of the season and see Sale go in front with six minutes on the board.

What seemed to be a recurring theme in the game for Sale, was the kicking of one Danny Cipriani and saw him unable to kick the conversion over and so the hosts lead 5-0.

Wasps then got a foothold into the game and went at the home side, with the defence having to make some important tackles on the likes of Viliami Helu and Ashley Johnson as the two big men for the away side had them gaining important ground for the Wasps but not able to break through.

Christian Wade once or twice managed to get behind the back of the Sale defence, but luckily for Sale he was dealt with Luke McClean who forced him out of play and had the Sharks defence troubled once or twice by his blistering pace.

Danny Ciprani was trying to engineer a way to get the Sharks out of a hole that they had put themselves in and a lovely weighted kick saw the ball roll and bounce out of play deep inside the Wasps 22.

 

Match official Luke Pearce was getting increasing impatient with Sale and their constant re-offending in the game and so had words with Sharks Captain David Seymour over frequency of the penalties.  

Less than minute later it saw the referee reaching the end of his tether and so shown Michael Paterson a yellow card and had Sale down to 14-men for the next ten minutes.

Wasps made the extra man advantage count, when a driving maul by the away side saw Nathan Hughes break away and put the ball down to give the visitors a deserved lead in the 27^th minute with Andy Goode adding the extras for a 7-5 lead.

Sale had the chance to strike right back soon after, when Wasps conceded a penalty from the kick off and had Cipriani the chance to kick the Sharks back in front, sadly for the fly half he pulled his kick wide once again and saw a chance go begging for the home side.

Both sides then found themselves a man lighter soon after, when Helu was sin binned for the away side after he made a tackle on a Sharks player while the kicker was still in the air from kicking down field and so handed the hosts another chance to re-take the lead from the resulting penalty.

Yet again though, Cipriani missed his kick and drew a fair few groans and moans from the Sale faithful as these kicks were points dropped as they were well within his range and could be crucial to the score come the end of the game.

Sale seemed to stir a bit towards the end of the half, and went very close to the try line before Marc Jones was tackled into touch by the Wasps defence and had the Sharks sensing blood in the closing minutes of the half.  Wasps though looked fairly comfortable despite being pinned in their own 22, but after a kick was charge down by the Sharks the loose ball came towards Wade, where it looked like was going to ground the ball, but Chris Cusiter followed up claiming a try.

The match official went to the TMO to clarify the outcome and replays shown that Wade never had control of the ball and that Cusiter did score a try to give the lead back to the hosts. Cipriani with his fourth attempt of the match finally managed to kick over for a conversion and see Sale lead 10-7.

Sale was then awarded a penalty on the stroke of half time as Wasps were penalised at the scrum and had Danny Cipriani having the chance to extend the lead for Sale, but much like was the story of his first half,  he failed with the boot and saw the teams head into the break at 12-7 in favour of the home side.

 

In the Second half the Sharks moved further in front early on, after a drop goal by Cipriani while playing the advantage saw Sale move 15-7 in front.  It seemed like a replay of the first forty minutes  with the Sharks coming out of the traps hard and fast, but then letting their opponents back into the contest and this was very much the same vain in the second half too.

Sale went 18-7 up through a penalty by Cipriani again as it looked like he had put his kicking boots on in the second half of the game with him not looking to miss anything at all. Wasps were the most dominant and attacking side in the game and despite them have the major of the ball in the game, they just weren`t able to transfer it into points.

It did see the Sharks defence holding firm and keeping the Wasps attack at bay as they were really being severely tested by a determined opposition and one that wasn`t going to go away.

With the minutes ticking away and seemingly like the home side defence wasn`t going to be unlocked in the second half, but then Christian Wade managed to wriggle his way somehow through tackles to go under the posts for a try and make it a 6 point game with just over 10 minutes of play remaining in this intriguing game.  

As the game reaching its conclusion and with the game there for the taking with both sides going for it, it saw Sale finally kill of the game with some quick thinking.

Tom Arscott quickly ripped the ball from Helu who had no other choice but to step out of touch and played a quick ball into play and from there saw Sale spread the play out wide, which saw Tom Brady dive over for a try to kill the game off, making sure of victory for the Sharks in another tough game and give them some confidence ahead of their trip to the Champions next week in Northampton.   

SALE v WASPS Match Highlights