MANCHESTER Storm's inability to score goals reached crisis proportions last night (Sunday) and now Daryl Lipsey is preparing to ring the changes.

The Storm coach has shown the patience of a saint with his misfiring outfit so far this season but the 4-1 home defeat by Belfast Giants has finally forced his hand.

Storm are rooted to the foot of the table. Their top goalscorer is a defenceman whose six goals are almost as many as he has scored in his last six seasons. But, worst of all, Storm can't win at home and that's vital if they are going to lure back the fans and secure the future of ice hockey in this city.

'Time for a change'

''I am considering making some changes and I'm not scared to say that,'' said Lipsey.

''It's probably time to do it. We're sitting at the bottom of the table and that's not a nice place to be, especially for a coach. We are struggling to score goals and we could also do with an extra defenceman.

''I'm going to start looking really hard now. I'm in touch with agents because you always want to keep your options open. But, at this moment, I don't know who it might be.''

There was nothing between the two teams last night for the first 36 minutes.

Storm had the better chances but netminder Steve Lyle still had to pull off a couple of breathtaking saves to keep the Giants at bay.

But then Belfast took the lead through Colin Ward on a breakaway and cracks started to appear in the Storm's defence and their confidence.

They turned into gaping holes in the final period when three Belfast goals in as many minutes ended the contest.

It was a shame for Lyle because he saved brilliantly on two occasions, only for Belfast to bury the rebounds.

Too little too late

The biggest cheer came when Joe Cardarelli scored for Storm in the 53rd minute but it was too little too late.

Lipsey added: ''You can't win scoring one goal a game. We played well in Belfast on Friday but we only scored one goal. We just could not get the second. We had some good chances tonight but could not put them away.

''On the powerplay we moved the puck around really well but it was all perimeter.

''I would like to see our defence shoot the puck and the forwards crash the net and put in a rebound. We need some lucky goals and that did not happen tonight. I was not happy with the way we played.

''It's tough to win games when you only have eight or nine players performing to the best of their ability. That's all I feel I've got going right now.''

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