Bulldogs move on to Aces challenge after getting burned by Blaze
CHALLENGE: Bulldogs’ player-coach Dave Williams.
DAVE WILLIAMS is hoping Bradford Bulldogs can snap a six-game losing streak when they head to NIHL North Two rivals Altrincham Aces on Sunday.
The Bulldogs’ poor run continued when they went down 7-0 at a Coventry NIHL Blaze team with ambitions of a top-three regular season finish.
But a visit to Altrincham offers a chance for the Bulldogs to draw level with their hosts if they can secure a regulation win.
A positive return would also keep bottom club Nottingham Lions 2 at arm’s length as the two teams fight it out for one of the four remaining play-off spots.
Mathematically, the Bulldogs can still finish fifth - Deeside Dragons 2 being just seven points ahead of them - but it is going to take solid form between now and the end of the season to pull that off.
“It’s been a tough season, we can’t lie about it,” said player-coach Williams. “We had a bad run of injuries before the turn of the year which didn’t help our cause.
“But there have also been times when we haven’t helped ourselves, particularly defensively.
“Coventry was disappointing, again, but at this stage of the season, probably isn’t the kind of game we would have expected much from.
“We’ve got to look at the teams around us in the table and pick up points off them, including Altrincham on Sunday.
“We’ve got six games left and - with there being three points for a regulation win - we can still finish fifth.
“That’s a tall order, I know, but I still believe we have the players who are capable of finishing the season strongly, make sure we get through to the post-season and take some confidence and belief into the play-offs.
“Yes, it has been frustrating, but we still have plenty to play for. Altrincham is the kind of game we can and should be winning.
“They are in the similar position as us in that they probably feel they have had a disappointing season up to now, so it should make for a very competitive game between two teams with something to prove.”
In Coventry, the Bulldogs gave as good as they got in the first period, trailing by just the one goal at the break, a short-handed effort from Nick Alley in the seventh minute.
Coventry piled on the pressure in the second 20, extending their lead to 3-0 with two goals in as many minutes from Ethan Wheeldon and Jordan Bloom just after the halfway mark.
The same pattern continued in the third, Harrison Sumner extending the lead on a delayed penalty at 43.23 before a second for Wheeldon made it 5-0 just over three minutes later.
Ryan James added a sixth in the 52nd minute before Daniel Kent wrapped up a deserved win with 40 seconds remaining.