SPEEDWAY: Aces thwart Stars, but get STUNG by Bees

 

BELLE VUE 48 - 42 KING`S LYNN

Monday evening saw the curtain come down on what has been yet another disappointing season for the Belle Vue Aces, in which saw the hosts complete their league programme with a double-header meeting, in which the two matches summed up Belle Vue season in a way.

 A season that on paper should have seen the Aces battling towards an end of season playoff spot, instead saw them narrowly missing out on the wooden spoon and finished up with a battling victory over the King`s Lynn Stars and then lost heavily yet again to the Coventry Bees.

 

 

In the opening meeting of the night it pitted the Aces against the King`s Lynn Stars and for the Stars, this was a very important match indeed for the Norfolk side, as a victory for them would guarantee them top spot in the table and have them choose their desired playoff opponent for next week.

 

In the case of Belle Vue, it saw their two fixtures as nothing more than just racing for pride and trying to end the season on a high note, after what has been a poor season for the Aces as they suffered with injuries and missing riders.

 

 

 

King`s Lynn took the early initiative in the match, taking the opening couple of heats with a couple of 4-2`s going their way. Robert Lambert popped out the gate ahead of Aces number Matej Zagar and lowered the colours of the grand prix star with Kerr taking third place, after he replaced guest Chris Harris who had been excluded for touching the tapes.

 

In the reserves race, it saw the Stars get some luck in the race however with Max Clegg looking on replays to have touched the tapes, but the referee never saw it and so Clegg picked up a point at the second attempt of running the race after Lee Payne went too wide and let him through.

 

 

 

The Aces forced their way back in the meeting with a 5-1 in heat 4, where British duo of Paul Starke and Richie Worrall teamed up to take maximum points with both Belle Vue riders passing Max Clegg to get the huge win.

Hans Andersen won his second race in a row, beating the strong pairing of Matej Zagar and Craig Cook, with Cook pushing Andersen hard but not able to stop the Dane taking the race win.

 

Captain Scott Nicholls and Richie Worrall combined in the following race to score a 4-2 and take a two point lead, before the lead changed round once again as the Stars responded with a 5-1 advantage through Nicklas Porsing and Lewis Kerr which saw them leading by two points.

 

 

 

Belle Vue then went back in front after heat 8, when Nicholls and Worrall once again got the hosts back in a winning position. In recent weeks the Aces have struggled at reserve, with Stefan Nielsen out for the season through injury and saw them left basically them seriously depleted in the reserves scoring ranks. The Stars were on a maximum heat win, before Starke managed to capitalise on an error by Kerr and saw him move into second spot.

 

Hans Andersen shown his liking for the Kirkmanshulme Lane circuit still, as the former Aces man led from start to finish as he and a another former Ace number one in Rory Schlein, finish in third place for a 4-2 to the away side.

 

Nicholls and Cook responded straight back with a 5-1 for the home team and from that point onwards Belle Vue never looked back as they scored a further two 4-2`s and a level heats to help the Aces win the match 48-42 and deny the Stars first place in the table ahead of the Poole Pirates.

 

 

 

Belle Vue Aces = 48

1. Matej Zagar - 2 , 1' , 2 , 3 = 8+1
2. Michael Palm Toft - F/X , 1 , 0 , 3 = 4
3. Scott Nicholls - 1' , 3 , 2' , 3 , 2 = 11+2
4. Richie Worrall - 2' , 1 , 3 , 3 = 9+1
5. Craig Cook - 2 , 2 , 2' , 1 , 1' = 8+2
6. Paul Starke (Guest) - 2 , 3 , 2 , 1 , F/X = 8
7. Lee Payne - 0 , 0 , 0 , (PS - F/X) = 0

King's Lynn Stars = 42

1. Chris Harris (Guest) - X/(LK - 1) , 0 , 1 , 2 = 3
2. Robert Lambert - 3 , 1 , 0 , 2 = 6
3. Hans Andersen (Guest) - 3 , 3 , 1 , 3 , 3 = 13
4. Nicklas Porsing - 0 , 3 , 0 , 2 , F = 5
5. Rory Schlein - 0 , 2 , 1 , 0 = 3
6. Lewis Kerr - 1 , 3 , 2' , 1 , F , (MC - 1') = 7+1
7. Max Clegg (Guest) - 1 , 0 , 3 , (LK - F) , 1' = 5+1

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Belle Vue   40    Coventry  53 

 

In the second meeting of the night, it saw maximum man Hans Andersen at it yet again as led his main club the Coventry Bees to victory, where they once again inflicted a home loss upon an Aces side that looking tired and found their opponents to quick out the gates for them.

 

Andersen carried on from where he left off in the opening meeting, with the Danish star storming to a brilliant 12 point maximum, as the Bees were buzzing in the second match, with eight heat advantages going the way of the Midlands side in the meeting.

 

 

 

Belle Vue looked to have punched themselves out after the opening fixture, whereas the Coventry side looked to used this match as a tune up prior to their play-off semi with the Swindon Robins next week.

 

 The Bees gated a whole lot better than that of their hosts and saw them pull away in the score line early on, Craig Cook and captain Scott Nicholls scored a maximum 5-1 to see the home side showing some signs of a fight back just before the midway point of the meeting, but they were unable to get back in the match.

 

Bees duo of Kenneth Hansen and Droylsden-based Jason Garrity saw them  scoring successive 5-1's in heats 4 & 6 to see the visitors lead 26-16, which brought the tactical substitute into play.

The nominated tactical ride came off for the Aces, as some great team racing between Scott Nicholls and Richie Worrall, earned them an 8-1 to move within three points of the Bees.

 

 

 

Coventry however, went up a few gears after that and saw them take maximum points in four of the final six races in the meeting, with Hansen and Garrity having blinders for the playoff bound Bees.

Hans Andersen was imperious all evening, as he completed a second maximum of the night, which saw the Danish rider collecting 24 points from a possible 24.

 

Belle Vue rounded off their disappointing season on a high note at least, with Nicholls and Worrall scoring a 5-1 in the final race of the season, to give their long suffering home fans something to cheer about, in what was a thumping for the Aces as the Bees look ready for  the playoffs next week.

 

 

 

Belle Vue Aces = 40

1. Matej Zagar - R , 0 , 3 , 1 = 4
2. Michael Palm Toft - 1 , 1 , 0 , 3 = 5
3. Scott Nicholls - 2' , 2 , 6^ , 1 , 2' = 13+2
4. Richie Worrall - 2 , 1' , 2' , 1 , 3 = 9+2
5. Craig Cook - 3 , 1 , 0 , 0 = 4
6. Paul Starke (Guest) - 0 , 1' , 1 , 1 = 3+1
7. Lee Payne - 2 , 0 , F , 0 = 2

Coventry Bees = 53

1. Hans Andersen - 3 , 3 , 3 , 3 = 12
2. Aaron Summers (Guest) - 2' , 3 , 1 , 2 , 2 , 0 = 10+1
3. R/R for Ben Barker - (KH - 1 , JG - 2' , JG - F/X , AS - 2 = 5+1)
4. Kenneth Hansen - 1 , 3 , 2' , 2' , 2' , 1 = 11+3
5. Chris Harris - R , 0 , 1' , 2' = 3+2
6. Jason Garrity - 3 , 2' , 3 , F/X , 3 , 3 = 14+1
7. Max Clegg (Guest) - 1 , 0 , 2' , 0 = 3+1

 

 

ICE HOCKEY: Phoenix Back To Winning Ways

 

   Manchester PHOENIX  3 - 2 Peterborough PHANTOMS

An injury-hit Manchester Phoenix team finally got their season back on track this past weekend, with a four point weekend rounding it off with their first home win of the season, edging out the newly rejuvenated Peterborough Phantoms 3-2, with a short bench that got shorter as the game went on.

Phoenix in these early formative stages of the EPL season so far have struggled to find their form, with injuries hampering their line-up, namely losing Czech forward Frantisek Bakrlik and then this past week lost Jacob Corson-Heron, after a freak accident in training that left the forward with a suspected Broken collarbone and only saw Shaun Thompson aggravate an old injury too.

Opening stages of the contest saw a fairly cagey game to start, with neither side able to settle down and had the net minders being called upon to make some early saves for both teams through it. 

With 3-57 gone in the game, it brought the game opening goal of the contest through former Phantoms player James Archer, as the forward once more haunted his former side, after some passing around the side of the net by Michal Psurny and Tony Hand, then led to the player-coach passing out the puck out in front and Archer buried it by Janis Auzins in the visitors goal for 1-0.

The home side should have doubled their lead, when a mistake by the Peterborough defence saw Phoenix have a glorious chance to move further ahead, when Ben Wood managed to beat Auzins to the loose puck and played the puck towards Jack Watkins and he somehow managed to miss the target after some good work by Wood, as the third line was showing hard working as ever.  

Peterborough looked lost in the opening period and had Manchester looking good for their lead. 

Then at 16-57, the hosts then grabbed an insurance marker in the game with Psurny and Hand setting up Archer again after his initial shot was blocked by Auzins, but his momentum saw him put home the rebound and force it in for a 2-0 score line.

In the second, Peterborough came out the much more aggressive team and upped their game, as the East Anglian visitors pressured the Phoenix defence into making a few errors that saw their style of play difficult for the short benched home side, as they exerted a fair bit of energy. 

Eventually the visitors picked up a goal through Lithuanian forward Darius Pliskauskas, after he took a pass from Edgar Bebris and player coach for the Phantoms in Slava Koulikov, as he started the move off and saw Pliskauskas dance through the back line of Phoenix to fire past Steve Fone for 2-1 at 24-17.

That goal seem to wake up the home side, as they improved their play as the period progressed and went on to look the more threatening as the period went on too. 

Phoenix had a good chance when Robin Kovar and Adam Walker broke away on a 2 on 1 opportunity, but Auzins managed to stop the Scottish forward as Walker attempted to take it round the netminder. 

Jack Watkins came close too for the hosts, after his shot was stopped by the Phantoms netminder and was clueless as to the whereabouts of the puck and thankfully for him, his team mates cleared away defenseman.

First penalty of the game came against the visitors, when Tom Norton tripped up Jack Watkins on the Phantoms blue line and sat in the penalty box for two minutes at 35-54.

Former Phantom Joe Graham then sat for two minutes himself, as he was called for Tripping at 38-34, when he was adjudged to have to brought down Luke Ferrara in his own defensive zone. 

Manchester was doing well killing off the Phantoms powerplay and nearly  got better for them, when Michal Psurny managed to break away on goal but James Hutchinson got his stick up to stop the Czech forward from getting a clean shot on goal and took one for the team being penalised for Hooking.

There was deep concerns right at the end of the period for the Phoenix, when James Archer got a bump in the crease from getting tangled up with a Peterborough man and saw him tumble into Janis Auzin. 

The result saw the forward in discomfort and holding his knee, with the netminder immediately calling for the trainer to come over as he was clearly in pain, as both sets of players looked on with concern, before Archer was helped off the ice and done for the night. 

The final period saw the Phoenix on the powerplay and were  unable to do much with the man advantage, as Auzins made a couple of saves but there wasn`t to many troubling shots in all fairness, but did see the net minder a fair bit unsure as he gave up a fair few rebounds in the game.

 At 43-04 the Phantoms penalty kill unit got more ice time when Cam McGriffin served a two minute penalty for Tripping and saw the home side grab a powerplay goal, through the unlikely goal scorer in James Neil. 

The Nottingham born defenseman skated into the slot at just the right time and beat Auzins with a wrist shot to go 3-1 up, with Tony Hand and Michal Psurny assisting at 44.44.

Peterborough then had a powerplay themselves, after Robin Kovar was given a High Sticks penalty at 47-49 and had the home side digging deep in their reserves now, with the home side losing the services of both James Archer and defenceman Johan Burlin in the final period.  Kovar took a quick trip back to the penalty box soon after, when referee Tom Pering called him for Cross Checking this time and what seemed a questionable call at 51-14. Marc Levers almost grabbed a goal back for the visitors, but Steve Fone was alert to make a double save to deny him and help out his weary defence.

Manchester`s lack of bodies was taking it`s toll now on them and were creaking at the back line and it didn`t help matters either, when Kovar was called for Hooking at 59-17 and meant that Peterborough used their wildcard in the form of the extra attacker.  Peterborough`s powerplay lasted all off three seconds, when a face-off win by Pliskauskas, saw Edgars Apelis shoot from the blue line and his shot was deflected in past Steve Fone for a 3-2 score, as James Ferrara was credited with the goal and had twenty-nine seconds to net a tying goal.

The sound of the horn was music to the Phoenix`s ears, which saw their players dropping like flies during the game and more importantly, finally saw them take a four point weekend and break their duck at home this season.

 It was also Steve Fone first win of the season, as his goal tending came to the rescue of the home side on many occasions throughout the final period.

As i mentioned it was four point weekend for the Phoenix, as they traveled down to the Skydome Arena on Coventry Saturday evening to take on the Milton Keynes Lightning and won 4-1, with goals from Robin Kovar, Michal Psurny and two for Swedish D man Johan Burlin.

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League Table

		GP	Pts
1.	Basingstoke Bison	4	8
2.	Manchester Phoenix	6	7
3.	Peterborough Phantoms	6	6
4.	Sheffield Steeldogs	5	6
5.	Swindon Wildcats	5	6

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PHOENIX PODCAST:  http://www.phoenix-podcast.com/2014/09/four-points-for-rick.html

Phoenix TV  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsYK5YGsxgE&list=PL601A19404EF97C49

The Angry Budgie blog:  http://theangrybudgie.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/phoenix-rolling-28th-september.html 

RUGBY UNION: BATH pull plug on Sale

SALE SHARKS 20   BATH  29

Sale Sharks kicked off their new Rugby Union Aviva Premiership season this past weekend and saw them going down 20-29 to Bath at the AJ Bell Stadium in what was a tough loss.

The Hosts got off to the worse possible start as they found themselves 7-0 down inside the opening minute of the contest, after a crossfield kick by the visitors fly-half George Ford saw Anthony Watson take the ball and plant it down for a try to see the West Country outfit getting out of the traps first.

In the opening quarter of an hour of the game it was mainly Bath in control and the home side fell foul of some questionable decisions by the match official as well as some ill-discipline by the Sharks too. Bath in all fairness was the much stronger side from the outset and was out working the hosts in almost all departments.

George Ford converted a penalty for Bath that saw them pulling away at 10-0 and Sale were shell-shocked in the early part of the game. Things almost got worse for them soon after when the visitors thought they had a second try, only to be overruled by the TMO for a knock-on and much to the relief of the home side.

The Sharks lacked urgency, guile and creativity to their play as they got drawn into a kicking battle for positioning, in which they seemed to lack belief in their running game and continued on with the back and forth tactical kicking which led to the visitors gaining the upper hand and compounding it with errors too by Sale, as it wasn't the start Steve Diamond envisiaged for his side.

Sale did show some glimpses of their attacking threat, however it seemed to fizzle out pretty quickly with them knocking-on or when getting into dangerous areas and having Bath in trouble.

Bath looked pretty solid and very well drilled in their play as they were skinning the Sharks alive in lots of aspects in the game and that saw them increase their lead to 13-0 thanks to the boot of Ford again.

Dom Dale was then lucky to escape a red card card for the away side, after his high and late hit on Danny Cipriani saw JP Doyle showing the Bath man a yellow card instead of the red variety and sat out the next ten minutes of play.

Cipriani though picked himself up and got his wits about him, before sending his kick through the uprights for the first points of the season for Sale and get a foot in the game.  That late hit seemed to serve as a wake up call to Sale, whom at the restart saw Cipriani's kick won back by the home side through some great work by Marc Jones and Eifion Lewis-Roberts, as the Sharks pack ploughed towards the away side try line and had them conceeding a penalty.

After a couple of attempts to get the five metre scrum put-in finefor the referee, the Sharks pack then pushed on and could sense blood and led to Mark Jennings going over to get the home side back in the game and just three points behind.

With Bath just trying to run down the clock on Dale's penalty,  it had the Sale natives restless with their tactics and when Ford restored the six point lead for the visitors with the boot, it just made the home fans more agitated.

Dale returned to the field of play to boos by the Sharks fans and that was soon drowned out by the cheers, when Cipriani kicked a penalty over from infront of the sticks to go into the break trailing by three and lucky it wasn't more at 13-10 down.

In the second forty, Sale suffered a big injury blow when former England International Mark Cueto suffering a bizarre injury as the Sharks man collected a kick down field, and then when he dashed up towards the halfway line he then crumbled in a heap on the pitch grabbing his ankle and saw the ball go loose straight to a Bath player, before an opposing player checked up on him as he lay on the deck clutching his ankle and in a great deal of discomfort.

George Ford was unstoppable with the boot as the kicker converted another penalty to see him kick five consecutive kicks in a row and was one reason Bath excelled in the match,  to see a scoreline of 19-13 in favour of the opponents. Sale then went through a purple patch as they started exploit the gaps in the Bath defence and led to Mark Easter scoring Sale's second try of the game to see the Sharks go ahead in the game for the first time 20-19, with the referee confirming with the TMO to award the try in the 65th minute.  

It almost got even better for Sale when some brilliant ball handling and quick passing down the left flank led to Michael Paterson fending off tackles and racing for the line, only to be called back by the referee for a forward pass and had Sale fans and players gutted.

Bath struck right back though five minutes later, as Sale got opened up and had Semesa Rokoduguni head for the corner crashing over for a try to give the visitors the lead back for a 26-20 score,  with Ford adding the extras.

Sale tried to find a response to going behind again, but instead their ill-discipline and urgency ran them into penalty trouble and who else but George Ford put the final nail in Sharks coffin, as his kick sailed over to make it 29-20 and seen Bath victors in the opening weekend. Sale will rue the passages of play that saw them unable to take advantage of possession they had at certain times, especially when they had the extra man.

For Bath they put in a good team performance and over ran Sale for most periods, but their defense came up big during a wobbly time in the second half when they went behind. But they found a way to battle on and come on top.

SALE 20
Tries: Jennings, Easter
Cons: 2x Cipriani
Pens: 2x Cipriani


BATH: 29
Tries: Watson, Rokodunguni
Cons: 2x Ford
Pens: 5x Ford