Bulldogs come from behind to shoot down the Ducks

GOAL-DEN BOYS: Daragh Spawforth (left) and Kai Hathaway (right) both scored two goals in the 6-5 win at Deeside Ducks, while Liam Hine (centre) marked his senior debut for the Bulldogs with a third-period shorthanded marker.

BRADFORD BULLDOGS dug deep to go into their final game of 2024 on a high with a 6-5 road win over Deeside Ducks. 

The Bulldogs close out the year with a visit from defending champions Telford Tigers this Sunday (face-off 5.30pm) but it was their performance against the defending champions three weeks ago that laid the foundation for the road win at Deeside last Saturday. 

The Bulldogs pushed Telford close before going down 5-3 in Shropshire on November 30 and picked up where they left off against the Ducks - coming from behind to pick up their fourth win of the season. 

Hannah Gibson, assistant coach, said the Bulldogs had gone into the game confident of building on the Telford game, although having lost to the Ducks in a shootout at The Pound last month, it was always going to be another close match-up. 

“Following on from that team performance in Telford, we had high hopes on Saturday,” she said. “We knew we needed a strong performance against the Ducks, who came out strong and were a good match for us. 

“Our defence on the night wasn’t great, but I felt we had the better of the offensive plays. It was goal for goal up until the third period, where I asked the team for a response.”

Having gone behind to a seventh-minute Rafferty Smith opener, the Bulldogs were back on level terms through Kai Hathaway at 12.07, although no sooner had the Bulldogs’ celebrations died down before the Ducks got ahead again through Stewart Cutting just 14 seconds later. 

The teams went in at the first break all-square though, when Daragh Spawforth struck at 13.57. 

The Ducks edged the second period, going ahead for a third time through Gary Dixon at 21.34, with Hathaway levelling three minutes later. 

Chris Jones for the Ducks and Jared Knowles then traded goals either side of the halfway mark before Rory Sillery made it 5-4 to the hosts at 34.10. 

Liam Hine then marked his senior debut for the Bulldogs in style with a shorthanded strike at 50.59 before Spawforth added his second to put the Bulldogs ahead for the first time. It was a lead they held on to. 

“It was nice to see the team buy in and come out on top - particularly when we knuckled down and protected that lead,” added Gibson. “Liam had a strong performance all game and got rewarded with his goal, it was the same with Daragh.

“Kai Hathaway and Jared Knowles also impressed with multi-point games and all four made a huge improvement to our line up.”