Ice Hockey - Manchester Phoenix 2-1 Slough Jets (From Messenger Newspapers)

Ice Hockey - Manchester Phoenix 2-1 Slough Jets

9:42am Tuesday 9th October 2012 in Sport By Kyle Green

CZECH forward Michal Psurny netted an overtime winner on Sunday night after an ex-Phoenix favourite helped them with an equalizer late on.

Defenceman Ladislav Harabin, now icing for Slough Jets, stumbled at the crucial moment with little over two minutes remaining in the third period, allowing James Archer a clear sight of goal to equalize late.

And once the game was pushed to the extra period, Tony Hand’s side made no mistake as the player coach himself set up the game winning goal, allowing Psurny to have the easiest of tap in finishes.

The game, however, was lacked any flow and sights of goal were kept to a minimum for the home side who were stifled by the visitors game plan once their influential Lithuanian forward Darius Pliskauskas gave them the lead in the first period.

The goal, set up by another former Phoenix star Slava Koulikov, was an unstoppable shot that Phoenix man of the match Steve Fone had no chance of saving.

However, with Phoenix looking dead and buried, Harabin’s slip gave the home side the chance they needed and they stole the extra point in overtime.

Hand said: “That was an ugly win, but we worked hard enough to deserve it. The goal was a long time coming, but we knew that if we kept plugging away it would come.

“It’s vital to maintain a winning run going into next weekend, when we play back to back games against Guildford Flames who are just a place below us and a point behind. Next week will be huge for us.”