 |
| Deeside Ducks' Michael Speare (Photo by Paul Breeze) |
The Deeside Ducks picked up their
second Laidler Division win of the season with a 5-6 penalty shot victory away
to Bradford Bulldogs on Sunday.
Bradford opened the scoring just one
minute into the game but goals from Stewart Cutting and Daniel Fadejevs saw
Deeside leading 1-2 at the first break.
The Bulldogs pulled a goal back early
in the second period but goals from Kieran Clarkson and Thomas Milnes helped the
Ducks soar into a 2-4 lead. However,
Bradford had the better of the chances after this and three unanswered goals
gave them a 5-4 lead at the second interval.
The only goal in a closely fought third
period fell to the Ducks’ Michael Speare, tying the scores at 5-5 and sending
the match into an extra 5 minute period of sudden death over time.
With no deciding goal in the extra 5 minutes
of play, the game had to be decided on a penalty shoot-out and strikes from Speare,
Clarkson and Josh Jones sealed a first ever away win for the Ducks.
Under new regulations introduced for
this season, Deeside receive 2 league points for the penalty shot win while Bradford
get 1 point for drawing at the end of regulation time.
After the game, Ducks’ Lead Coach Peter Bleackley said:
“Following last week’s heavy defeat at
Telford, we decided to re-set mentally and really dig in. The whole team bought
into a totally different positive mindset and the lads worked hard for the win.”
“It was a very close game but silly
penalties made it harder than it needed to be. We have the next couple of weeks
to work on some things before we face Telford at home.”
The Ducks are without a game this coming
weekend but are back in action on Sunday 17th November when they face
title favourites Telford Tigers 2 at Deeside Leisure Centre, 5pm face off.
