Weekend Review - Seniors back to winning ways, defeat for 16s and 14s
BRADFORD BULLDOGS’ got back to winning ways in emphatic style when they returned home from their long trip to Nottingham Lions on the back of a dominant 7-2 win.
Josh Stockton produced a man-of-the-match performance with a four-goal haul, while there were also strikes from Connor Medley, Tomas Mitrik and Gavin Penn.
The game got off to a frantic opening few minutes, which saw the Bulldogs get ahead at 3.32 with a shorthanded strike from Stockton, only for the hosts to respond through Charlie Marsden just under two minutes later.
Only another 15 seconds had elapsed, however, before the Bulldogs were ahead again, this time through Connor Medley at 5.43, the lead being increased to 4-1 by the end of the first through a power play strike from Mitrik in the 17th minute and a second from Stockton at 18.17.
The hat-trick strike for Stockton came shortly before the halfway mark, although a second from Marsden shortly afterwards gave the Lions a glimmer of hope.
That was extinguished before the end of the second period, though, when Stockton’s second shorthanded strike of the afternoon at 39.08 was followed by a seventh goal for the visitors, this time from the stick of Penn with just 10 seconds remaining.
With the points safely in the bag, the teams then played out a goalless third, the win enough for the Bulldogs to move up to third in the NIHL North Two standings.
Elsewhere, the Bulldogs’ Under-14s headed to Coventry looking to build on their home win over Sheffield two weeks ago.
But they came unstuck in a first period which saw them go 5-0 down through strikes from Coventry’s Lewis Swaffield (2), Finlay Radford, George Tarr and Will Weaver.
Two goals from Daragh Spawforth gave the Bulldogs hope in the second but a strike three seconds before the end of the period from Weaver restored Coventry’s four-goal advantage.
Spawforth’s hat-trick marker gave the visitors hope just 39 seconds into the third and it became a two-goal game when Danny Harrison struck 34.32.
But, just over a minute later, as the Bulldogs chased for more goals, Weaver secured his hat-trick to make it 7-4, which was how it stayed. William Durgan chipped with two assists, while Max Lutwyche picked up the Spirit of the Game award.
It was a tough after for the Under-16s at Sheffield as the mercy rule was invoked to leave them on the wrong end of a 12-0 defeat.
The damage was done in the first period as Sheffield raced into a 9-0 lead, Oliver Wagg leading the way with four goals, three further goals coming in the third to secure both points for the hosts.
The visitors never gave up throughout the whole game, though, and it was Tyler Hall who came away with the Spirit of the Game Award for the Bulldogs.
