Tom Duggan celebrates after Ciaran Long opens the scoring

Phoenix bounced back from their slaughter in Slough to book a place in the semi-final of the EPL Cup.

They produced a quality performance in front of home fans to beat Milton Keynes with a hat-trick from Slovakian forward Martin Cingel.

Injuries take there toll on the Phoenix bench

Player-coach Tony Hand was back directing operations on the bench just three days after having surgery to put pins in his broken ankle.

“It was a great performance by the guys and we really needed to bounce back after that defeat on Saturday.” he said.

“They really dug deep and I was pleased for the fans because it’s too long since we won a home game.

“Martin used all his experience tonight and came up with the goods but it was an all-round team performance.”

Martin Cingel celebrates his hat trick

Phoenix went 2-0 up in the first period when Tom Duggan and James Archer combined to put in Ciaran Long before Cingel collected his first of the night.

Lightning staged a fightback through Leigh Jamieson who scored the only goal of the second period and then levelled the game six minutes into the third on the powerplay.

There were some nervous moments for Phoenix until Cingel took control making it 3-2 in the 53rd minute and completing his treble with three minutes left.