The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
No need for big changes insists coach Koulikov
Head coach Slava Koulikov insists there is no need for major changes at Phantoms.
The city team were left empty-handed at the end of a frustrating first season at NIHL Division One South level.
A 4-1 loss to Telford at the semi-final stage of the NIHL Final Four weekend last Saturday provided the last in a long line of close shaves with silverware for Phantoms.
But Koulikov is not prepared to class the campaign as a failure. He said: “We lost a league title on goal difference and then we lost the play-offs on an offside goal.
“We also lost on penalties in the semi-final of a cup and lost to a very good Telford team in the semi-finals of the Final Four when we were punished for making a couple of mistakes.
“I don’t think a season like that can be classed as a failure.
“Of course we are all disappointed because we wanted to win things – for ourselves, for the owners and for the fans but I don’t see any need for a clear-out.
“We all have to remember that we over-achieved dramatically for three years in the English Premier League where the standard rose so much.
“We competed with that growth without having the finance of many of our rivals and even now in this league we are still not a top team in terms of budget.
“I’m sure there will be some changes as usual, but we have a great set of guys who have fought for us all season and will continue to fight for us in the future..”
Koulikov feels circumstances went against Phantoms in the closing weeks with illness and injury hampering their trophy hopes.
He added: “The final league game against Basingstoke was definitely a turning point.
“We had done so well up to then and were on fire for a lot of the season, but that late goal from Basingstoke was a big moment.
“That was followed by illness ahead of our final game against Streatham and meant we couldn’t get the sort of scoreline we needed.
“We then lost Darius to injury at the end of that game which hurt us in the play-offs and by then we knew fortunes were going against us.
“Picking up another injury to Owen in the first shift of the first leg of the semi-final left us without two of our top four forwards.
“We got a bit of luck - maybe that’s not the right way to say it - by getting to the final and we then played pretty decent hockey in both games against Basingstoke.
“But even when we dominated the possession and had moments of dangerous play, we just couldn’t get the puck in the net.
“I look back at the season when we won the play-offs. We hit a lot of injuries around December and January of that season, but we got the guys back and peaked at the right time.
“This season it went the other way. We chased the league title, missed it and then hit problems at the crucial time.”
Phantoms are likely to name their first signing for 2018/19 at their awards bash tomorrow night (Friday). The vast majority of the roster is expected to stay together.