Braves too strong for plucky Phoenix
Phoenix U-18s 3 – 9 Whitley Bay Braves
Whitley’s Callum Watson and Nathan Salem were ultimately the architects of Manchester’s 9–3 home defeat on Saturday, as the Braves’ superior fitness and firepower told in the last twenty minutes.A spirited opening spell by Phoenix promised a big improvement over their performance in the corresponding away fixture. Concerted attacks led to Joe Greaves firing Phoenix into the lead in the fifth minute, but a heated exchange followed that saw the goalscorer penalised for Roughing and Braves’ captain Bobby Mole duly tied the game up on the resulting powerplay.
Phoenix were in penalty trouble again in the eighth minute with Ashton Jenion and Jordan Bannon sitting two minute minors, a fate shared by Whitley’s Jack Stevenson. Phoenix completed the penalty kill thanks to defensive help from debutante Ryan Hulme whose play impressed throughout. The two sides matched each other’s endeavours at this stage and there was little to chose between them.
When Whitley grabbed the advantage in the 19th minute, courtesy of Callum Watson, Phoenix responded immediately, Josh Healey turning in from Max Drakeley to end the period on even terms.
Six minutes into the middle period Whitley’s Nathan Ryder netted the visitors’ third on the powerplay, and Callum Watson doubled their lead a couple of minutes later. As the Braves’ confidence grew, lapses in Manchester’s concentration increased correspondingly, and a lack of stamina began to show.
Phoenix were still eager to counter-attack and edged the visitors in shots on goal for a second period running. It was their ability to grind out possession and keep Whitley’s fast forwards at bay that was proving to be the problem.
As the final period began Nathan Salem bamboozled the home defence to post Whitley’s fifth in the 43rd minute but Tom Revesz answered just ninety seconds later to keep Phoenix in touch. Another strike by Salem restored the visitors’ three-goal cushion and the home legs began to tire noticeably. Salem then turned provider for Callum Watson to strike on the powerplay at with just over three minutes left on the clock. Phoenix could find no answer to this continued pressure and Whitley rounded off their victory with two goals in the last two minutes through Ashley Holland and Callum Watson.
A Phoenix spokesman summed up the afternoon noting, “Phoenix matched Whitley play for play up until the half way mark. After that, we seemed to develop a fitness problem and most of the damage was done by just two of Whitley’s senior players. We can take some comfort from the fact that we comfortably out-shot the Braves, but we certainly have some work to do in the fitness department.”
Voted Most Valuable Player was Josh Healey.
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