Bulldogs find unbeaten Telford too hot to handle again

DOWNED: Bradford Bulldogs, pictured wearing their Remembrance Day jerseys, lost out 9-2 at home to an impressive Telford Tigers team.

WITH five minutes gone of their NIHL North Two clash with unbeaten Telford Tigers, Bradford Bulldogs might have started to believe a shock was on the cards.

Leading through Lucas Vince’s well-taken strike on a breakaway after just 57 seconds, the hosts were proving more than a match for the only team yet to see its colours lowered in 2023-24.

But the team who had vanquished the Bulldogs in Shropshire 14-4 just last month shopwed their quality soon enough, getting themselves 4-1 ahead inside 13 minutes.

The three-goal deficit was harsh on Andy Brown’s team, the difference increasing by two more goals in the second period before the game was finally put to bed by the visitors in the third to seal a 9-2 victory which took them to within two points of leaders Sutton Sting, with three games in hand.

After Vince’s swift opener - which followed an impeccably observed pre-match Remembrance Sunday ceremony, including a two minutes’ silence - the Bulldogs traded blows with the Tigers pretty much throughout the first 20 minutes, the crucial difference being the finishing prowess of the two sides.

Charlie Hammerton cancelled out the Bulldogs’ strike at 5.29 before, with just under three more minutes having passed, he doubled his tally to put the Tigers ahead.

Just 50 more seconds had gone when Liam Bartholemew pounced to ensure Jake Lowndes was beaten for a third time, with Oli Hunt getting in on the act to make it 4-1 at 12.36.

Where the Bulldogs had outshot the Tigers in the first, they found zone time hard to come by in the second period, their plight worsening when Filip Supa made it 5-1 at 22.55.

Hammerton made it a trip to remember when he completed his hat-trick shortly before the halfway mark and although Declan Kime reduced the deficit with just 44 seconds of the third gone, the already sim hopes of a comeback by the home side were soon extinguished.

Hunt doubled his tally at 45.54 before two more goals from Callum Griffin - the second in the final minute - ensuring another impressive win for the visitors.