EPL: Hull Pirates stay in touch at the top | Sheffield Steeldogs leak goals

An impressive 4-2 road win at Guildford Flames on Sunday night followed a comfortable 6-3 victory over Peterborough Phantoms on home ice 24 hours earlier.

But second-placed Milton Keynes Lightning matched the East Yorkshire club’s efforts by posting a maximum return themselves Guildford and bottom club Manchester Phoenix.

It was a weekend to forget for Sheffield Steeldogs, however, failing to build on the promise shown in last weekend’s 1-0 win at Guildford when they shipped 18 goals in defeats to Swindon Wildcats and defending champions Basingstoke Bison.

To make matters worse, their 11-6 loss to their Hampshire rivals came on home ice, 24 hours after a trip to Swindon saw them return home on the back of a 7-3 defeat.

But, for Hull, the transformation from last season continuing to leave them just the one point behind Lightning with a game in hand.

At home to Peterborough, the game was effectively over as a contest before the halfway mark after player-coach Dominic Osman’s team raced into a 5-0 lead.

Two goals in as many minutes from Jon Kirk got the ball rolling before Andrej Themar made it 3-0 at 12.23.

Into the second period, captain Nathan Salem made it 4-0 at 28.56 before a fifth marker arrived from Lithuanian forward Ugnius Cizas at 30.32.

Peterborough finally woke up and opened their account through Ales Padelek on the powerplay at 35.17 before James Griffiths made it 5-2 early in the third.

Jaroslav Sarsok made it 6-2 in the 48th minute while Darius Pliskauskas restored some pride for the visitors with a 52nd-minute reply.

In Guildford, it was another fine start that settled the encounter, Hull racing into a 3-0 lead inside five minutes. The frenzied opening saw Themar pounce after just 28 seconds before Cizas doubled the lead just 25 seconds later.

Osman himself then weighed in with a fifth-minute powerplay strike to leave the hosts reeling.

After the game settled down, Guildford got back into the game through Matic Kralj just before the halfway mark. That was how it stayed until early in the third when Hull’s Lee Bonner restored his side’s three-goal cushion and, even though the Flames responded quickly through Kralj, the Pirates played out the rest of the game to record their seventh straight win.

“That was an absolutely unbelievable weekend from the boys,” said a delighted Osman afterwards. “It was four points but they were well-deserved.

“We battled all weekend long and closed it out.”

By contrast, Greg Wood’s Steeldogs lost ground on their mid-table rivals during a frustrating 48 hours.

The hosts actually opened the scoring just 44 seconds in through Tim Smith, although Basingstoke were level within 14 seconds thanks to Aaron Connolly’s effort.

Tomas Karpov’s sixth-minute strike for the visitors was the only other goal in the period, but the game exploded into life with five goals in two second-period minutes.

Basingstoke were first to profit when Ciaran Long struck at 23.14 with further strikes from Karpov and Connolly giving their team a 5-1 lead.

But the hosts roared back with two goals inside a minute themselves, Adrian Palak’s strike being followed by a Liam Kirk effort at 25.01.

It then became a one-goal game when Mrna registered a shorthanded goal at 30.17, although defensive problems surfaced again soon after when two goals in as many minutes from Long and Grant Rounding made it 7-4.

Shaun Thompson then made it 8-4 for the Hampshire club before fans and players alike were able to get their breath back during a welcome second period break.

Long completed his hat-trick just 36 seconds after the restart with Daniel Lackey following him on to the scoresheet just over a minute later.

Wood made it 10-5 on the night before, late on, Ivan Antonov’s strike was cancelled out by a second on the night for the Steeldogs’ Smith.

In Wiltshire, the Steeldogs found themselves 3-2 ahead at the end of the first through strikes from Mrna, Liam Charnock and Tomas Brcko.

But two second period powerplay strikes put the Wildcats in the driving seat, a position they never relinquished with three further unanswered goals in the third.