JOSH Ealey-Newman inspired a spirited Bracknell Bees recovery as they defeated Peterborough Phantoms 4-3 in a thriller at The Hive on Sunday, writes Dave Wright.
Bees looked in trouble when they found themselves trailing by two goals inside the opening eight minutes, with Corey McEwan and Will Weldon the men on target.
But the 21-year-old forward pulled a goal back 10 minutes later, and, after Josh Smith had equalised, Ealey-Newman fired his side into the lead in the final minute of the second period, his sixth National League goal in 17 appearances.
Weldon also scored again to make it 3-3 with less than nine minutes left on the clock.
Both sides went looking to settle the issue and it went Bees' way thanks to Ryan Webb's strike in the 57th minute.
However, there was late drama when they were penalised for having too many men on the ice with 122 seconds left to play.
The TSI World-sponsored side, who out-shot their hosts 37-29, held out well and six seconds from time the power-play came to an end when Peterborough's James Ferrara took an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.
Doug Sheppard's men were returning to winning ways following their 4-3 defeat away to Swindon Wildcats on Saturday.
A scoreless first period saw Bees outshoot their hosts 13-7, but it wasn't until the 36th minute when Aidan Doughty converted a power-play.
Tyler Plews brought the scores level in the 46th minute and a little over four minutes later Wildcats took the lead through Tyler VanKleef.
Tomas Malasinski scored a short-handed goal to make it 3-1 and, after Roman Malinik had struck for Bees, Steve Whitfield netted Swindon's vital fourth when the visitors had withdrawn netminder Adam Goss.
Malinik scored again, this time on the power-play, but Bracknell were unable to equalise in the final 66 seconds.
With Raiders suffering two defeats at the weekend, Bees swap places with them, returning to eighth place in the standings with 27 points from 32 matches. But they have eight points to catch the team immediately above them, Sheffield Steeldogs.
Bees are away to third-in-the-table Basingstoke Bison this coming Saturday (6.30pm) before hosting Hull Pirates, who are fifth, on Sunday (5.30pm).
They should be boosted by the return of forwards Zach Milton and Caly Robertson, who both won silver medals with Great Britain at the U20 World Championship Division II Group A in Lithuania’s capital city Vilnius. GB defeated Serbia 2-0 on the final day of the tournament.
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