It took just 5 minutes for the hosts to take the lead, when Michael Forney slotted home off of a Chris Higgins assist, despite the Storm matching the Giants inch for inch in the opening minutes of the period. This was followed just under 2 minutes later when the hosts got their second goal of the evening, a superb strike by Blair Riley. Despite being 2-0 down, the Storm continued to battle hard for their opening goal, but struggled to find fluency that was evident at home the previous evening against Cardiff, and with 4:36 left in the period, Colin Shields slotted home to give the hosts a 3-0 lead. With the clock ticking down in the period, and both teams serving a penalty, Storm Captain Trevor Johnson blasted home from the blue line to finally give the Storm their opening goal!

The Giants came out of the locker room fired up for the 2nd period, and dominated the play early on. Their dominance was rewarded with Riley grabbing his second of the night, and the Giants 4th, with 16:02 to play in the period. The play flowed end to end, with big hits being dished out by both sides, but neither were able to score again in the second 20 minutes.

With time against them, Storm continued to push hard for their next goal, knowing another Giants goal would all but put the game out of reach for Storm. Spurred on by the travelling fans, a good 100+ of them, Adam Harding secured the Storm’s second goal with 4:56 left to play in the period, giving the large contingent of Storm fans some hope of a late comeback! The hope that was gained however was shattered with 36 seconds left to play in the period, when Colin Shields grabbed his second of the evening, and the Giants 5th, by slotting into the empty Storm net to secure the 2 points for the League contenders!

Storm now look ahead to a midweek battle against the Braehead Clan, who went down to the Dundee Stars 4-1 at home this evening, before returning home on Saturday to take on fellow playoff place rivals, the Edinburgh Capitals on the 11th of March. Faceoff is at 7:00pm and tickets can be ordered online, by calling the box office on 0161 926 8782, or in person at the box office!