Ice Hockey - Manchester Phoenix 6-3 Swindon Wildcats (From Messenger Newspapers)

Ice Hockey - Manchester Phoenix 6-3 Swindon Wildcats

9:37am Tuesday 26th February 2013 in Sport By Kyle Green

JOACHIM Flaten fired in a late double to lift Manchester Phoenix past Swindon on Sunday night to seal a four point weekend.

On Saturday, Phoenix snapped a four game losing skid with a morale boosting 6-2 win at Slough Jets before a late third period surge saw Tony Hand’s side see off potential playoff opponents Swindon the following night.

Player coach Hand gave the home side a 1-0 lead at the first break before both teams hit two goals in the middle session. Michal Psurny and James Neil struck for Phoenix whilst Paul Swindlehurst and Aaron Nell replied for the visitors.

Matias Perkkio brought Swindon level, but Flaten hit two goals late to put Phoenix in control before Psurny wrapped things up with an empty net goal with the Cats’ opting for an extra forward.

Phoenix will now turn their attention to the second leg of their Cup semi final on Saturday.

They trail Guildford on aggregate by two goals after going down 6-4 in the first leg in Surrey but will be full of confidence after their first back to back winning weekend since early January.

Hand said: “Swindon are a tricky side and are always capable of scoring goals as we saw tonight. However we stayed focussed and got away from them in the latter stages and I thought we deserved the win.”