Tony Hand hailed a fantastic team performance from Phoenix but it was not enough to beat Guildford Flames on Saturday night.

There was just a goal between the teams before the Flames scored an empty netter for a 5-3 victory in Altrincham.

“The guys played extremely well and  it was a fantastic team performance,” said Hand who is still sidelined with injury.

“We were the better side for long periods and we were very unlucky not to take something from the game.”

Stephen Wallace was also missing through injury while Josh Ward was away on GB duty and Trafford Metros trio Andy Dunn, Jake Nurse and Jamie Rogerson were called up to the bench.

Guildford took a two goal lead through Branislav Kvetan and Nathan Rempel but Tom Duggan pulled one back to make it 2-1 at the first break.

But Guildford wasted no time in restoring their advantage when Phoenix old boy Curtis Huppe scored on the last second of a powerplay carried over from the first period.

Rick Plant increased their lead before Martin Cingel started the Phoenix fightback with a finely finished powerplay goal on 32 minutes.

Ciaran Long pulled it back to 4-3 seconds into the final session but despite a fantastic effort to find the equaliser Guildford held firm before Jez Lundin found the empty net after Phoenix had pulled Steve Fone.