Lightning had three goals washed out by referee Steve Wardell who appeared to have left his long distance spectacles at home.

If he was correct in washing out the first two of the disallowed goals then there certainly did not appear to be any reason to call off Adam Carr's 55th minute effort for having a man in the goalkeeper's crease. The player in question could not have been construed to have been interfering with goalie, Euan King, who was covering his right hand post as Carr shot past him.

The 'goal' would have been an equaliser for Lightning at a crucial stage of the game which would then been set for overtime with Phantoms forced to abandon the tight defensive formation they had adopted to maintain their lead.

Phantoms dealt Lightning an early shock when Brent Gough gave them an early lead with a topshelf shot which eluded netminder Barry Hollyhead in the ninth minute.

Carr put Lightning level at 11mins 55secs with a fierce slapshot which possibly took a slight deflection from former Milton Keynes man Dwayne Newman.

When Craig Peacock was penalised for holding in the 17th minute the hosts took full advantage to go 2-1 ahead thanks to a Mikko Skinnari blueline rocket shot.

Phantoms came out at the start of the second fired up and Peacock evened the game up within 27 seconds of the restart, coming from behind the net.

The same player put his team in front at 23mins 18secs with shot which just trickled by the normally secure Hollyhead.

Gary Clarke put Lightning back on terms at 27mins 14secs from close range after the first of the disallowed 'goals', ruled out because the puck did not cross the line. But parity did not last long as James Morgan sent Lewis Buckman away for a one on one with Hollyhead at 28mins 28secs while Nick Poole was serving two minutes for hooking.

Then came the second 'goal' washed out by Wardell when Michael Wales clearly put the puck over the line. However the referee ruled that one out for the net being off its moorings.

Despite Lightning's best efforts they could not get an equaliser until Carr got the puck past King in the 55th minute – referee Wardell appearing to change his mind after at first awarding the goal.

With 1min 4secs remaining Hollyhead was replaced by an extra skater and that gave Nathan Rempel to seal the result with Phantoms' fifth goal on an empty net with 48 secs to go.

The following night Lightning bounced back in emphatic style with an 8-0 demolition of Telford Tigers – the Shropshire side's second defeat of the weekend by that score.

Clarke put the city team ahead after 7mins 13secs with a five on three powerplay and Ross Bowers got the first of a hat-trick at 8mins 7secs – still on the powerplay.

The game was all over by the first break with Carr scoring at 15mins 48secs, Bowers netting short-handed at 17mins 28secs and Clarke completing the tally three seconds from the interval.
Defenceman Chris McEwen had withdraw from the game temporarily in the second session when he broke a skate blade .

The only goal of that period came from Kurt Irvine on 38mins 12secs to make it 6-0.

Bowers completed his hat-trick on 45mins 56secs before Skinnari rounded off the win with a goal on 48mins 26secs.

Lightning v Phantoms statistics:

Lightning scorers: Adam Carr 1+2, Mikko Skinnari 1+0, Gary Clarke 1+0, Toni Alasaarela 0+2.

Phantoms scorers: Craig Peacock 2+0, Lewis Buckman 1+1, Brent Gough 1+0, Nathan Rempel 1+0, James Morgan 0+3, James Hutchinson 0+1, Adam Reynolds 0+1, Janne Kinnunen 0+1.

Nets - Barry Hollyhead 24/4
Empty net 1/1
Euan King 39/3

Tigers v Lightning statistics:

Lightning scorers: Ross Bowers 3+0, Gary Clarke 2+1, Adam Carr 1+3, Mikko Skinnari 1+1, Kurt Irvine 1+0, Toni Alasaarela 0+2, Nick Poole 0+2, Michael Wales 0+2, Chris McEwen 0+1, Grant McPherson 0+1.

Nets - Barry Hollyhead 33/0
Mike Brabon 43/8
Daniel Heslop 8/0