Bulldogs open their account for 2024-25 season with road win in Deeside

DOUBLE DELIGHT: Tom Mardell, right, took his tally for the season to four with two goals in the 4-3 win at Deeside Ducks.

ANDY BROWN praised his Bradford Bulldogs team for digging in to secure their first win of the 2024-25 NIHL North Two campaign by beating newcomers Deeside Ducks.

Two goals from Tom Mardell and strikes from Kacper Andrukianiec and Jacob Brownlie - the game-winner with just over three minutes remaining - were enough to seal a 4-3 win. 

The result lifted the Bulldogs off the foot of the table and above the Ducks. 

But it was hard going, according to head coach Brown, particularly after seeing his team fall behind with just 36 seconds on the board when Michael Speare - a popular member of last year’s Bulldogs’ team - fired past Jake Lowndes. 

They pulled level just under four minutes later through Andrukianiec but were chasing the game again when Josh Jones restored the home side’s lead at 15.53. 

Mardell quickly levelled for the Bulldogs within 26 seconds and that was how the game stayed until the early part of the third period, the Bulldogs’ forward doubling his tally just 31 seconds after the restart. 

But momentum swung again when Bradford’s Dave Williams took a cross-checking call in the 55th minute to hand the home side a five-minute power play. 

They capitalised on this to level for a second time when Charlie Spridgeon found the net just over a minute into the man advantage leaving Bulldogs’ fans fearing the worst. 

But the drama was to come at the other end when Mardell chased a clearance down from the Bulldogs’ zone, found the supporting Brownlie at the back post from where the young defenceman fired home for a shorthanded match-winning strike at 56.42.

“It was great to get our first win of the season,” said a delighted Brown. 

“We got off to a bad start by conceding a weak goal in the first shift of the game, but we bounced back and deservedly got the equaliser a few minutes later when Kacper finished off a nice passing play with Tom Mardell and Lucas Vince. 

“I felt we controlled large parts of the opening period but then we turned the puck over cheaply in the O-zone to gift a breakaway for the Ducks’ second. 

“Again though we showed great character to hit straight back with Vince putting Mardell through to finish with a great shot. 

“Those two combined again on the first shift of the final period to put us one up and we looked to control the game until a silly penalty meant we’d be killing for five minutes. 

“They piled on the pressure, got their third goal and ith nearly 4 minutes still remaining on their PP I was just hoping we could hold out and go to OT 

“But when we got that shorthanded goal to go ahead again, we seemed to get a second wind and we killed off the remaining two minutes and held on to take the points.” 

The Bulldogs are without a game this weekend but return to NIHL North Two action on Saturday, October 19 when they travel to Coventry NIHL Blaze (face-off 6.30pm). They then play host to Altrincham Aces the following day (face-off, 5.30pm).