By Robert McGregor BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

Phantoms celebrate scoring against Guildford

After a rare day off on Saturday, Phantoms welcomed English Premier League leaders Guildford Flames to the Peterborough Arena on Sunday.

The Surrey side rolled in to town with a five-point lead over the second-placed Phantoms side, but had also played a whopping five games more.

The Phantoms also welcomed back forward Shaun Yardley, who had been playing with the city's ENL side this season.

Phantoms wasted little time in throwing down the gauntlet to Paul Dixon's Guildford side, as star forward Brent Gough slid the puck home after Craig Peacock's precision pass from behind the net.

The visitors began to turn up the heat on the city side however, with netminder Stephen Wall pulling off a number of top-drawer saves to maintain Phantoms lead.

An unusual error from Dwayne Newman allowed Guildford back in to the game, the big Canadian defenceman losing his footing, leaving Guildford's Lukas Smital to feed Milos Melicherik with a well-placed pass which was duly fired past Wall to level matters at 1-1.

It was a former Phantoms star who then turned the game in Flames favour in the second period.

Taras Foremsky, who left Peterborough in somewhat difficult circumstances last season, caught Phantoms defence on their heels and raced clear to beat Wall.

But an increasingly vocal home crowd spurred Phantoms on, and when Ricky Skene was sent to the sin bin for hooking it was Craig Peacock who once again stepped up to score the vital goal while Phantoms had the man advantage.

With the game finely balanced going in to the third period, the home town support began to resemble its vociferous best and Phantoms really put their stamp on the game.

Brent Gough netted his second of the night from close-range to give the home side a slender 3-2 lead.

Minutes later, Flames blue liner Ricky Skene fired a rocket of a shot, beating Wall - but not the crossbar - as it pinged off the iron goal frame and bounced clear.

Both sides continued to press forward, with Phantoms' line rotations making life extremely difficult for the visitors.

Guildford took a gamble, pulling their netminder in favour of an extra attacker, only for Joe Miller and Brent Gough to scramble the puck out of Phantoms zone and Craig Peacock to race clear of the Flames defence to score into an empty net and seal a 4-2 victory.

606: DEBATE What did you make of the Phantoms' weekend? Give us your views

Guildford's lead at the top has now been cut to three points, with Phantoms still sporting five games in hand over their Surrey rivals.

This weekend Phantoms entertain former EPL winners Bracknell Bees on Saturday (face-off 1900 GMT).

The Bees have had a difficult season thus far with injury and illness, but boast one of the leagues top netminders in former Phantoms man Gregg Rockman.

On Sunday, Colin Patterson takes his side to Essex to meet the Romford Raiders.

Known for their all-action encounters in the past, Phantoms games with the Raiders are nearly always great crowd pleasers.

The city side will be hoping to put further pressure on Guildford at the top of the EPL whilst Raiders will be hoping to put their poor start to the season behind them.

It was a difficult week for the city's English National League side, however, with inspirational coach Jesse Hamill parting ways with the club he guided to a first piece of silverware in their 10-year history.

Forward Steve Maile was also released by the team, and with Shaun Yardley joining up with the Phantoms, the Islanders faced a difficult trip to local rivals Milton Keynes last Sunday.

With former assistant coach and Peterborough Pirates player Elwyn Dawkins at the helm, the Cambridgeshire side battled hard but slipped to a 4-3 loss.

This weekend, the Islanders are at home to Chelmsford in the ENL Cup.

Chelmsford are currently top of the ENL South Division Two, having dropped out of the EPL last season for financial reasons.

The Essex side's recent form has shown that they are more than capable of skating with the best teams in Division One and they will be out to make life difficult for the faltering city side.

Peterborough Penguins Under 16's took to the ice for their first ever home game last weekend.

Despite being heavily beaten by a more experienced Bracknell side, over a hundred people turned out to watch the girls play.

Penguins netminder Isobel Wallace faced a whopping 85 shots throughout the game, but Georgina Wilson was handed the 'Spirit of the Game' award for her performance.

Team coach Matt Withers decided to step down after the game and as yet no decision has been made as to a successor.

Elsewhere, Phantoms Under 12's recorded a superb 13-4 win over their Basingstoke Bison counterparts.

The Peterborough Predators recreational side were also in action as they welcomed Streatham Nighthawks to the Peterborough Arena.

In a close fought game, the two sides found themselves tied at 5-5 when the final buzzer came.

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