Bulldogs looking to rediscover scoring and winning touch against Titans
HOPEFUL: Bulldogs’ head coach Andy Brown.
ANDY BROWN is hoping the quality will shine through in his Bradford Bulldogs team when they host Sheffield Titans this Sunday.
After a promising start to the NIHL North Two season brought wins in their first two games for the Bulldogs - and 16 goals - both have dried up.
A 4-3 overtime defeat at Coventry Blaze followed the deserved wins over Kingston Sharks and Nottingham Lions 2, but the following two games against league leaders Sutton Sting proved more problematic.
The Bulldogs found themselves shut out on home ice in a 5-0 defeat before a trip to Ice Sheffield last Sunday to face the same opponents brought a heavy 9-0 loss.
Sutton have now gone nine games unbeaten and sit eight points clear at the top of the standings.
Sheffield arrive in Bradford having had a similarly mixed start to the 2023-24 campaign as their hosts, boasting two wins - against Nottingham and newcomers Billingham Buccaneers - from their seven games, but on the back of a 7-5 defeat to second-placed Telford Tigers 2 two weeks ago.
That last result suggests to Bulldogs’ head coach Brown that Sheffield will prove a tough opponent, having pushed last season’s playoff winners so close.
“Sheffield have got quality, but so have we. We just need to make sure we produce it.”
"It's been a tough couple of weekends, particularly last Sunday down at Sutton, but we have a chance to get back to winning ways on home ice,” said Brown.
"We've struggled to create decent chances in the last couple of games, so we need to return to the kind of scoring form we showed in our opening games against Kingston, Nottingham and Coventry.
"We know we have scoring in our line-up and once we get one, I'm sure that will help settle us down and we can go on and get more.
"We also need to make sure we tighten up on the back end too, so we're looking for a good, all-round, solid performance - cutting down on the number of shots we allow on our net, in particular.
"Sheffield come to us having pushed Telford close in their previous game, so that shows they've got quality, but so have we.
“We just need to make sure we produce it."