Tom Duggan on the rush

A Martin Cingel hat-trick fired Manchester Phoenix to victory over lowly Telford Tigers at Altrincham on Saturday.
Having suffered a 4-1 defeat at the hands of Sheffield Steeldogs on Thursday, Tony Hand’s men were out to make amends and duly delivered finding the net nine times.

Cingel opened the scoring early in the first period before Ladislav Harabin doubled the lead. James Archer put Phoenix three goals up inside ten minutes, but the Tigers pulled goals back through captain Tomas Janak and Thomas Soar.
Ben Wood restored the two goal advantage with less than a minute on the clock giving Phoenix a 4-2 lead going into the second period.

Telford failed to neutralise the Phoenix threat in the second period and Ciaran Long put the home side further ahead before Cingel got his second of the night. Tom Duggan scored shorthanded and Cingel put in Phoenix’s eight and his third before the session was over.

A change of netminders for Telford in the third period couldn’t blunt the Phoenix attack and Harabin got his second of the game from a Ryan Johnson pass.

Telford deserve credit for battling to the end and their commitment was rewarded with a late flurry of goals from Joe Henry, Josh Bruce and Janak’s second.

Player coach Tony Hand said after the game:

“It was a good performance by the team tonight and nice to see a lot of the lads get among the goals. Telford are a hard working side but I felt we definitely had the upper hand tonight and deserved the points.

This was an important result for us and gave us important cup points too. We will go to Guildford with confidence restored and will do our best to get a result.”

Pictures: Richard Allen