Bulldogs frustrated after bouts with Blaze and Aces

DOUBLE DELIGHT: Kai Hathaway (#77) completes his hat-trick on debut for the Bulldogs, but finished on the losing side as Altrincham went home with a 7-4 win. Picture: Andy Bourke/Podium Prints.

ANDY BROWN cited a lack of desire and effort for why Bradford Bulldogs emerged with nothing to show for their efforts across two NIHL North Two games at the weekend. 

The Bulldogs were beaten 2-0 at Coventry Blaze on Saturday, but looked like rebounding from that shutout when they led Altrincham Aces 4-2 at the halfway stage the following day at The Pound.

But the Aces fired home five unanswered goals in the second half of the game to run out deserved 7-4 winners. 

“Our performance in Coventry was disappointing,” said the Bulldogs’ frustrated head coach. “We only had two lines which is not ideal but I felt we still had enough to take something from the game. 

STRIKE ONE: Lucas Vince finishes off after breaking clear to equalise for the Bulldogs in Sunday’s game against Altrincham. Picture: Andy Bourke/Podium Prints.

“The scoreline would suggest a closely-contested game but in reality we failed to create hardly any offence and I’m sure Coventry will be asking themselves how they didn’t beat us by double figures.”

For Sunday’s contest, the Bulldogs were bolstered by the addition of two young forwards on a two-way deal from North One’s Widnes Wild. 

Kai Hathaway - who used to play for Bulldogs’ juniors - and Luke Alston came into the line-up but, despite having a positive impact - Hathaway with a three-minute hat-trick in the second period - they couldn’t help avoid a second defeat of the weekend 

“Their addition seemed to boost the team and we played with far more confidence on the Sunday,” added Brown. “We created more scoring chances in the first 10 minutes than we had the whole game the previous day and we deservedly had the lead going into the last period. 

NOT THIS TIME: Bulldogs’ netminder Jake Lowndes sticks out his left leg to deny an Aces goal-scoring opportunity. Picture: Andy Bourke/Podium Prints.

“We knew Aces would come out strong but if we could match their work rate we had the ability to see the game out. 

“Unfortunately we came out in the third period with zero desire and a total lack of effort, dropping four unanswered goals and allowing Altrincham to deservedly take the points.”

In Coventry, the Bulldogs had young netminder Jack Mickevicius to thank in part for keeping it to 2-0, the 18-year-old turning away 41 of the 43 shots on his net. 

He was first beaten with 15.42 on the clock by Thomas Brooke-Smith. But a repeat of the 7-3 win the Blaze enjoyed in Bradford last month never materialised, despite being handed a number of power play opportunities. 

The Bulldogs struggled to create any meaningful chances but, given Coventry’s failure to convert at the other end, a possible equaliser remained on the cards. 

But that hope was ended when the Blae finally doubled their tally, Max Parham beating Mickevicius in the 49th minute. 

The Bulldogs found themselves trailing twice in the first period at home to Altrincham the following day, Lucas Vince’s breakaway effort at 11.35 sandwiched between goals for David Kaminicek (5.55) and Jake Frost’s power play marker with 40 seconds of the period remaining.

But the Bulldogs roared back creating 17 scoring chances in the second period alone, with Hathaway the man to do the damage with his quickfire treble.

His first came when he drove into the Aces zone and beat netminder Bayley Hodkinson on the power play with 27.58 on the clock. 

Less than two minutes later, he redirected Kieron Furlong’s effort from just inside the blue zone to put the hosts ahead for the first time. 

From the resulting face-off, only seven more seconds had elapsed before Hathaway’s drive to the net was rewarded when he tapped home a feed from Alston at 29.37. 

The Aces halved the deficit through Sam Dunford just over four minutes later following a scramble in front of Jake Lowndes’ net, but the Bulldogs still emerged for the third in control.

That all changed, however, when Ronnie Grimes saw his throw towards the net take a deflection and just over two minutes in.

The Aces then got themselves back in front when Ollie Gotts fired home a rebound at 44.38, the energy then being further sapped out of the building when former Bulldogs’ forward Malachi Budd made it 6-4 at 47.01 from close-range. 

The Bulldogs created a handful of half-chances, but they lacked the confidence they had in the second, salt rubbed into their wounds when Josh Milnes squeezed one in at Lowndes’ near post with just 13 seconds remaining.