Bulldogs finally find their range against Sting ahead of play-off showdown

DOUBLE DELIGHT: Declan Kime scored two cracking goals for the Bulldogs in their 6-3 defeat at Sutton Sting. Picture: Andy Bourke/Podium Prints.

HEAD coach Andy Brown was pleased to see Bradford Bulldogs finally break their duck against 2023-24 NIHL North Two runners-up Sutton Sting - even if it didn’t produce a first win of the season over their Nottinghamshire rivals. 

In three previous meetings between the two this season, the Sting had scored 19 goals, while the Bulldogs hadn’t maneged to find the net once.

In the end, a 6-3 defeat at Ice Sheffield was a creditable way for the visitors to see out their regular season schedule, one that saw them finish seventh in the overall standings and book themselves a play-off quarter-final tie against, yes, you’ve guessed it, Sutton.

That will take place this weekend with the Bulldogs at home first (face-off 4.30pm) ahead of the return leg in South Yorkshire (face-off 1pm).

They will be able to go into the encounter more confident than perhaps they previously would have done, given their performance on Saturday. 

ON TARGET: Ollie Massey scored Bulldogs’ third goal ats Sutton. Picture courtesy of All Sport Photos.

“It was good that we were able to push Sutton a lot closer this time around - previously we have struggled against them, particularly in terms of scoring goals,” said Brown.

“But we showed a lot of determination and we scored some good goals and showed the kind of quality that we have been able to throughout the season, just not on a consistent enough basis. 

“Getting the monkey off our backs in terms of finally getting some goals against the Sting, will do our confidence the world of good, especially seeing as we face them again in the play-off quarter-finals this weekend.”

Trailing 2-0 after the first period - courtesy of Sting strikes from Callum Russell and Morgan Glasby - it was in the middle of the game where the Bulldogs were at their most threatening.

It was Declan Kime who got them back in the game with a rocket of a shot from the top of the right circle to halve the deficit at 30.13. 

A stung Sting, didn’t take too kindly to that and restored their two-goal advantage through Elliott Meadows in the 34th minute before Sam Colton made it 4-1 at 38.57. 

But the Bulldogs ensured they would come out for the third period very much still in the game when Kime produced an exquisite finish from the tightest of angles into the roof of the Sutton net with just three seconds of the period remaining. 

Not surprisingly, as in the previous three clashes between the two teams, Sutton enjoyed the greater possession and created more scoring opportunities.

Their dominance in that area paid off again, this time on the power play through Meadows in the 49th minute, with Bulldogs’ Kieran Furlong in the box on a tripping call. 

The points were sealed just under two minutes later when Bailey Templar beat Jack Mickevicius to make it 6-2, but the Bulldogs were to have the last word when Ollie Massey forced the puck home from close range to give the Bulldogs a deserved third goal in the 53rd minute.