Stepanek strike sinks Bracknell

Import star Petr Stepanek hit a late winner as Phantoms tasted away success last Saturday.

The prolific Czech ace unleashed a trademark thunderbolt to earn victory at Bracknell in the NIHL National Division.

Phantoms had twice seen advantages – provided by Glenn Billing goals – wiped out by the hosts before Stepanek settled the issue with three and a half minutes to go.

“I’m really happy with the result and even more so the way all the guys played,” said head coach Slava Koulikov.

“Every single guy battled hard on a night where we had to deal with injuries, but we kept going and got the result we deserved.”

Billing made the breakthrough late in the opening period when tucking away an Ales Padelek pass during a powerplay.

Bracknelllevelledthrough Aidan Doughty in the middle session but Billing restored the advantage for Phantoms – who lost defenceman Scott Robson to a knee injury – in the penultimate minute of that period.

Bees import Robin Kovar dragged the hosts back onto level terms again with little more than eight minutes to go.

Phantoms then lost netminder Ryan Bainborough to a groin injury within a minute of that leveller with firstchoice Jordan Marr unexpectedly pressed into action

BRACKNELL:

28.25 Doughty ass: Jackson/Kovar 51.48 Kovar (DP) ass: J. Baird/Knaggs

PHANTOMS:

16.41 Billing (PP) ass: Padelek/Weldon 38.20 Billing ass: Padelek/J. Ferrara 56.31 Stepanek ass: Weldon/Bowering

BRACKNELL: Ivan Antonov

PHANTOMS: Petr Stepanek

and immediately called upon to make a series of smart saves during a penalty kill.

But Phantoms survived that difficult spell and topscorer Stepanek then blasted in the decider to earn the points.