MANCHESTER MAYHEM 5-0 SHEFFIELD STEEL STINGS
After 644 days, the Manchester Mayhem finally snapped their 10-game losing streak that stretched right back to September 2022, as the Widnes based side recorded a dominant 5-0 shutout victory against ironically, the last team that Manchester beat in the shape of the Sheffield Steel Stings. While their two games this year have both resulted in defeats (4-1 to Peterborough and 5-1 to Sheffield Steel Kings) the Mayhem haven't been the whipping boys of the league like they were last year, as they’ve just lacked a bit of luck and composure in games so far.
The hosts could easily have been ahead inside the opening ten seconds of the contest, as Anthony Booth got round the back of the visitors and saw only last ditch defending putting him off at the last second. Sheffield were under the cosh straight from the opening puck drop, as the ‘Stings found themselves having the Mayhem hammering on their door. But the hosts would soon take the lead in the game with 6.10 played, as Karl Nicholson took a pass from Dean Lahan who found him completely unmarked and have Nicholson firing his shot low into the bottom corner for 1-0. Lahan nearly doubled the home sides' advantage soon, as after beat the defender in a race to the puck, it just saw the composure not there as the 'Magic Man' shot over the bar.
Sheffield were limited with their attacks, as a simple route-one of playing the puck up ice for Jack Grocock to latch onto - seemed to be their game plan, as he was a constant headache for the home side all game due to his speed. Felicity Gregory scored her first goal in Mayhem colours at 9.21 to make it 2-0 and doubled the hosts tally, as she was quick to put home the loose rebound after Peggy Assinck saw her effort strike the pipe work and felt perfectly for Gregory to put home. Karl Nicholson grabbed his second and Manchester’s third thanks to an assist from Anton Tomlinson, as his intended pass saw it jump up and bobble on the ice, but it came down to rest nicely for Nicholson who fired high past Hackworth and saw the puck finishing just over the line for 3-0. We saw a mad 90 seconds where Manchester found themselves on a 4-on-2 with Gregory firing just wide, but from that resulting play the puck came up the other end and saw Sheffield break with Jack Grocock firing his shot just wide of the target.
In the second period it saw Pomfret making his first serious save of the game from Jack Grocock of the Stings', as he was bearing down on goal and saw his first effort turned away by the goalie before soon after having a shot from distance being gathered too. Manchester’s first real chance in the middle stanza saw Anthony Booth blocking the puck at centre ice, before then heading up the wing and cutting in on goal, with the forward firing home at the near post for 4-0 at 19.43 gone in the game. The visiting side still battled on and looked to score a goal in the game, but they were much like the Mayhem in the last couple of games of just lacking a clinical edge to their attacks. Both teams went on the powerplay, and if anything they both looked worse with the extra player advantage than if they were down a player, as they looked more vulnerable to ship with the extra skater on the ice.
As we moved to the third, it saw the Mayhem keeping up the pressure on their opponents, and if not for some good last ditch defending by the Stings, then the score could have got out of hand. Manchester had a couple of half-chances that were just out of reach at the back post for Nicholson and Dave Lawrence. The visitors almost constructed a goal against themselves when Damien Barker tried to fire the puck up ice, but his intended clearance struck Zoe Davis and had Bryan Hackworth making a very good save to keep it from five. Gaz Lawton played an almost Kevin De Bruyne-esque pass into a gap between two Manchester players that sent Grocock away, but Pomfret made a superb toe save to deny him, while then following it up with a double or possible triple save.
Anthony Booth rounded off the scoring by netting his second and Mayhem’s fifth of the game, but the goal was all about the battling efforts of Anton Tomlinson that led to the goal, as fought hard to win the puck from the Sheffield player, before getting it over to Booth to fire in for 5-nil. Ben O’ Brien then summed up the luck of the away side, as his shot beat the goalie but not that of the pipework, as it struck the inside of the near post and jutted outwards and away from danger. As the final seconds ticked down it saw the Manchester Mayhem celebrate their first win in almost two years, with their last league win also coming against the Steel Stings back in July 2022.
Next for Manchester is the reverse fixture against the leaders in the Peterborough Phantoms on Sunday, before back to back reverse fixtures against the Steel Kings and the Steel Stings next month.
Stats:
Manchester: Anthony Booth 2+0, Karl Nicholson 2+0, Felicity Gregory 1+0, Anton Tomlinson 0+2, Peggy Assinck 0+1, Dean Lahan 0+1
Shots on Goal: Manchester 18 - 8 Sheffield
Goalies: Darren Pomfret 8/8 - (100%) : Bryan Hackworth 13/18 (72.8%)
PIMS: Manchester 2 - 6 Sheffield
Period scores: (3-0, 1-0, 1-0)