Battling Mayhem Suffers Late Heartache
- Peter Bradders
- Jul 3, 2024
- 3 min read
Manchester Mayhem 2-3 Sheffield Steelkings
Manchester Mayhem suffered 3rd period heartache against the Sheffield on Sunday evening, as the Widnes-based side held a 2-1 lead entering the third and final period, but two goals from the visitors saw the Steelkings take a 3-2 victory. Going into the clash, the Mayhem knew that a win would take them to the lofty heights of third place, subsequently jumping above their opponents.
One of the themes across the game was Manchester running into penalty trouble, with Karl Nicholson getting called for a hooking call early on, and that led to the visitors’ taking the lead with 3.57 gone in the game on the powerplay. It then saw Nicholson turning zero-to-hero soon after, as he put the hosts’ level at 9.45 to make it 1-1, as Manchester began to enjoy a late purple patch to the period, but creating clear-cut chances was a real problem. It saw that momentum carry on for the Mayhem as they went ahead thanks to a strike by Dean Lahan at 12.30, with the hosts having the better of the play towards the end of the first.
In the second, it saw Sheffield as the more attacking side, with the officiating not being the best, as neither side seemed happy with the official, especially from the Manchester point of view. Sheffield then got called for holding towards the middle of the period, but the Mayhem’s power play unit lacked little to no cohesion at all, and the Steelkings were never remotely troubled throughout the penalty kill. Manchester felt aggrieved when no call came from Anthony Booth being interfered with at the front of the net, before further salt was rubbed in the wounds of the Mayhem forward when an oncoming Sheffield player accidentally collided with him while down.
The hosts were guilty of poor link-up play when attacking, as that meant that they were constantly having to defend more and fought like beavers to keep their stronger opponents out. While the team defended stoutly in the middle stanza, when needed upon, it did see netminder Darren Pomfrett pulling out some good stops with him flashing the glove to deny a Steelkings shooter during the period. As play moved to the third, it was a question of whether the hosts could sustain a strong defence for another 15 minutes, but it saw their defences finally breached again following a penalty on Dean Lahan for Teeing. Much like in the first period, the visitors made the most of the extra body on the ice at 31.45 to make it a 'Desmond' at 2-2.
Both sides were pushing for the go-ahead goal late on, as both teams were leaving themselves open at the back. Manchester had a couple of calls go missing, which led to them getting frustrated with the match official, but things would get worse late on. With less than five minutes to play in the game, it saw the Mayhem being the makers of their own downfall yet again. Last week saw one error being capitalised on, which led to them chasing the game against Peterborough, while this week was another unforced error that saw the visitors take advantage of a defensive error by a Manchester defenseman, to which Sheffield would net on the resulting play to lead 3-2.
After a terrific defensive effort from the home side throughout, it saw just one play being the difference maker in the game and showing why it can be cruel at times. With the hosts looking for an equaliser, their hopes of trying to comeback were dashed when the official called two late penalties on the Mayhem with 1.14 to play, which didn't sit well with the players and the coach especially.
After the horn sounded to end the game, Manchester captain Mark Colquitt received a ten-minute misconduct call from the referee, and was the last action of the game. The difference between the sides was the ability to create chances, as while Sheffield carved out more chances, Manchester just found it harder to try and generate much offence, even when they dominated possession. The side travels over the Pennines this coming Saturday to face the other Sheffield side in the SteelStings and will hope to do the double over their opponents.
