The game opened in lively fashion with Myles Dacres the junior
international, leading the Bradford forwards as they rained early shots in on
Ruxton. Wild breakaways from Supa and Dunford almost brought the early goal.
Both sides took minor penalties in the 10th minute. With Bradford down to three
skaters, Filip Supa fed the puck to Sam Dunford who fired home an opening goal
for Wild, with an angled shot at 10.38. Within two minutes Widnes doubled their
lead, Ben Brown and Shaun Dipnall feeding Dan Bracegirdle. The defenceman fired a rising angled shot from the
blue line, high into the Bulldogs net. Wild continued to dominate and spurned a
couple of good chances
Within two minutes of the second period opening, Tom Jackson and Matt
Wainwright set Filip Supa up for a third goal at 21.12. Three goals in under a
minute from 26.58 saw Wild take complete control of the game. Chris Preston was
the first scorer, slotting home a measured cross ice pass from Supa. Within
seconds Sam Dunford struck again after Kieron Strangeway's pass put him clear.
Ben Brown added a sixth from close in on the right after some fine work from
Bez Hughes.Shaun Dipnall added a 7th goal for Wild crashing home a rebound off
the netminder at 29.54. Maybe a touch of complacency crept in but Bradford got
back into the game in the 37th minute. Outstanding forward Myles Dacres broke
clear before forcing the puck past Greg Ruxton and taking the net off the
mounts at 36.48. Within seconds he had added a second goal, finishing well from
close in.
Wild coach Mark Gillingham, took the Widnes travelling support by
surprise by giving young Sheffield netminder Josh Benstead his debut for the
third period. After a couple of confident blocks
he was unlucky to concede the third Bradford goal, when Corey Stones took a pass out on the boards and fired a low shot
from a seemingly impossible angle into the bottom right corner at 41.36. This
spurred Wild back into intense action. They took firm control, replying at
43.02, Shaun Dipnall netting from a Sam Dunford pass. Within 30 seconds Filip
Supa put the visitors further ahead with Dipnall the provider. Dan Bracegirdle scored his second of the night with a low shot after good work by Ken Armstrong and Preston. This prompted a netminder change for Bradford, Matthew Fox replacing Jake Higham. Fox was soon in action but he couldn't keep out a Filip Supa solo effort at 46.39. Kieron Strangeway crashed home a twelfth in the 55th minute with Lee Pollitt wrapping up the scoring a minute later. Both goals were assisted by the irrepressible Sam Dunford who deservedly took the MVP for Widnes.
The game saw Wild playing with much more confidence against potentially
tricky improving opponents. Thirteen Widnes goals were shared amongst eight
different players with another four adding assists. The stop start fixture list
has not helped team cohesion but the team return to home ice for a potentially
exciting fixture against Hull Jets on Sunday - face off 18.15.
Coach , Mark Gillingham , was
full of praise for his team's resurgent performance ' the team realised their
true scoring potential and we hope to see the Widnes crowd backing us to the
hilt in Sunday's match against Hull'.
Photo: Widnes Wild's MVP Sam Dunford. Photo by Geoff White - www.gw-images.co.uk
