A short-benched Bison team put up a valiant fight in Manchester but were beaten by a late surge by the Phoenix.

Their were plenty of shots in the opening session but no goals, however there was not long to wait in the second period until the net was found as Adam Walker (3rd) scored at 23.38. Boosted by this the home side went further ahead on the powerplay with Joe Tallari (24th) counting at 27.19 before Bison came back strongly and regained equality by the period end with a double from Greg Owen (11th, 12th) at 34.05 on the powerplay and then at 39.24.

Tallari (25th) fired the home side ahead again at 43.25 only for Danny Stewart (15th) to tie it up at 46.41 and it seemed as if the game was heading for overtime before Omar Ennaffati (6th) scored the game winner at 58.04 and Tony Hand (14th) added the insurance into the empty net with 19 seconds remaining.

Period Scores: 0-0, 2-2, 3-1
Penalty Mins: 8-10
Powerplay: Man 1/4 - Bas 1/3
Shots On: Scott Fankhouser 35 - Curtis Cruickshank 43 1 ENG

Other Sunday results:

Coventry Blaze 0 Belfast Giants 2
Hull Stingrays 4 Cardiff Devils 2
Newcastle Vipers 2 Sheffield Steelers 1 (PS)
Nottingham Panthers 3 Edinburgh Capitals 2 (OT)