IT was a tough weekend for Manchester Storm, losing at home to Belfast Giants on Saturday 4-3 in overtime and then going down 4-0 at in-form Guildford on Sunday.

The game against Belfast was exciting from start to finish and, although Storm scored first through Luke Moffatt, Belfast hit back and the hosts found themselves 3-1 down and chasing the game.

Mike Hammond and Chris Auger scored late goals and levelled things up before the game went into overtime.

Four minutes in, Rutherford secured the win for the Giants.

The game had everything but the officials made things difficult with the number of penalties they awarded and sending players off to cool down in the penalty box.

Dallas Ehrhardt and Shane Bakker spent long periods in the penalty box, although Bakker made up for lost time and was again Storm’s man of the match.

The game saw new signing Brendan Brooks make his debut for Storm and he could be a big asset in the months to come.

Despite losing head coach Ryan Finnerty said: “I was proud of my players who gave it everything, some things went against us on the night but having levelled the scores we put in seven shots in overtime before the Giants scored the winner.”

After a night’s sleep the Storm boarded the coach to make the long journey to Surrey to play Guildford Flames and returned home having shipped four again.

The home side used their speed well on the ice and put Storm under pressure, creating many opportunities.

Storm visit Nottingham tomorrow in the Challenge Cup before returning to Altrincham for a big game against Fife Flyers on Saturday (7pm).