Bulldogs denied as Sharks hold on for road win

DERBY DUEL: Bradford Bulldogs and Kingston Sharks battle it out at The Pound on Sunday. The visitors prevailed 5-3. Picture: Andy Symons.

DAVE WILLIAMS praised another committed performance from Bradford Bulldogs - but was left to rue a failure to convert their dominance into three points against Kingston Sharks. 

The Bulldogs had gone into Sunday’s Yorkshire derby at The Pound full of confidence after the previous weekend’s first road win of the season at Deeside. 

But despite getting their noses in front in the first period, they ended up on the wrong end of a 5-3 scoreline, partly thanks to an impressive performance between the pipes for Kingston by former Bulldogs’; junior goalie, James Adamson, who turned away 47 of the 50 shots on his net. 

“It was another great performance from the team that built on last week’s win in Deeside,” said Bulldogs’ player-coach Williams.

“I feel the better team lost on the night and we were just unlucky in the end.

“That said when you are out-shooting a team 50 to 31, you have to be taking the points. We need to be more clinical with our shooting and finish our chances.

“The lads worked hard and showed commitment to each other throughout. I can’t fault a single player’s effort.

“Their netminder kept them in the game throughout. We had three or four chances in the third period to take the lead but we couldn’t break through him. He fully deserved the MVP for his performance.” 

It was Ollie Massey who broke the deadlock at 10.54 when he followed up his own shot to jam home the rebound. 

SET TO: Bulldogs’ Chris Hogarth and Kingston’s Kyle Mitchell-Quinn get up close and personal just after the halfway point of Sunday’s derby at The Pound. Picture: Andy Symons.

It wasn’t long before Kingston were level, however, when former Bulldogs’ junior McKenzie Barker broke free down centre ice and blasted past Jack Mickevicius. 

That was how it stayed until the break but the second period was only 34 seconds old when Kingston went ahead, Ellis Martin blasting through traffic from just inside the Bulldogs’ zone after a face-off win in the right circle. 

There was a brief interruption just past the halfway mark when Chris Hogarth and Sharks’ Kyle Mitchell-Quinn decided to drop the gloves, the Bulldogs #91 landing more blows than his opponent. 

Once proceedings had calmed down, it was the Sharks who struck next, doubling their advantage when Harrison Booth drove down centre ice before rounding Mickevicius and tapping the puck home at 31.53. 

NO WAY THROUGH: Lucas Vince finds his path to goal blocked by a Sharks’ opponent. Picture: Andy Symons

But it was a one-goal game again less than two minutes later when Aaron Jordan went to the net and jammed the puck home following Kacper Andrukianiec’s initial shot. 

The Bulldogs huffed and puffed but found Adamson in defiant mood and it was the visitors who struck next when former Bulldogs’ junior Booth tipped in from in front off Barker’s shot at 49.23. 

A timeout for the Bulldogs seemed to do the trick, however, when, from the restart, Rocco Mallon turned and fired past Adamson from the right circle to make it 4-3. 

With Mickevicius pulled, a face-off win by the Sharks in their own zone fell to Kieran Robinson whose long-range effort found the net to seal a 5-3 win.