EPL: Sheffield Steeldogs bounce back with Bosas's four-goal haul but Hull Pirates lose ground in race for play-offs

After the disappointment of losing 5-3 on the road at second-placed Milton Keynes Lightning on Saturday, the South Yorkshire club bounced back immediately with a 5-4 triumph - Arnoldas Bosas providing the star turn with four goals, including the overtime winner.

It was a disappointing weekend for Hull Pirates though, their hopes of making the play-offs dented when they followed up Saturday night’s 4-3 lost at home to leaders Basingstoke Bison with a 3-0 defeat on the road at Manchester Phoenix.

The Sunday night reverse allowed Manchester - currently in the eighth and final play-off spot - to extend their advantage over Hull to nine points.

The Steeldogs had looked dead and buried with less than a minute remaining, trailing 4-2 against a Guildford team who had been in control most of the night.

Then, with 48 seconds remaining, Bosas struck his second of the night followed - just 23 seconds - by his hat-trick strike to take the game into overtime.

With 130 seconds gone, it was Bosas who struck again to leave the home fans delirious and the fourth-placed Flames pole-axed.

Earlier, the Flames had enjoyed a two-goal lead on three separate occasions, going 2-0 ahead in the first period through strikes from Ben Campbell and Sheffield-born Matt Towe.

Liam Charnock halved the deficit at 34.30 but, less than two minutes later, the Flames restored their two-goal advantage through Sam Godfrey.

Bosas then got in on the act for the first time at 46.04, only for Tom Duggan to make it 4-2 to the visitors with just over 11 minutes to go.

That’s how it looked like remaining until Boas’s late heroics made player-coach Wood a very happy man.

“This was what you would call a character win and will bring a lot of confidence to the team,” said Wood.

“We were second best for the first two periods, but the way we played in the third shows we will always put teams under pressure.

“Guildford are probably the hardest working team I have seen come to iceSheffield so far this season and when you play against a team that is skilled and hardworking you are always going to be in trouble.

“But we don’t know when we are dead though. In the last five or six minutes I always felt we were going to get back into it. As soon as I pulled the goalie and we got the first one back, the belief was there to get the next goal, we just had to create one more chance.

“Thankfully the chance fell to the guy who is leading the league (Bosas) and he’s up there for a reason, he deserves his accolades.”

Just over 24 hours earlier, the Steeldogs were victims of a late rally themselves by Milton Keynes, who scored twice in the last four minutes to take the points.

Two goals in the first 10 minutes from Stanislav Lascek gave the visitors plenty to cheer about, although the hosts levelled just over a minute into the second through powerplay strikes from Frantisek Bakrlik and Markku Tahtinen.

Sheffield responded with a powerplay strike of their own via Andrew Hirst made at 25.26, but matters were level by the end of the second thanks to Michael Farn’s effort.

The crucial moment came in the 54th minute when Sheffield’s Steve Duncombe was ejected for boarding, enabling the Lightning to add two more powerplay markers, Jordan Cownie’s effort at 56.11 being followed by Bakrlik’s second of the night just over a minute later.

In Hull on Saturday night, the Pirates had held their own against Basingstoke, going in all-square at the end of the first after Tommi Laine had cancelled out Matt Towalski’s fourth-minute opener.

But three unanswered goals for Bison in eight second-period minutes proved pivotal, Stuart Mogg’s strikes at 20.50 being followed by efforts by Joseph Greener and Aaron Connolly.

Player-coach Dominic Osman made it 4-2 at 35.34 and, although Laine added his second of the night in the 57th minute, the Pirates couldn’t find the game-tying goal.

It remained goalless in Manchester for the first two periods until the third period sparked into life with two fights and three goals for the home side.

First Hull’s Nathan Salem was sent to the penalty box after grappling with Phoenix’s Jacob Heron, before Pasi Salonen had an altercation with Mark Thomas.

By the time the fights broke out, Manchester had gone 2-0 ahead through goals from James Neil and James Archer. Stanislav Gron made the points safe with a third Manchester goal at 56.47.