BRISTOL, UK – The Bristol Pitbulls ENL2 side returned to regular action after a three week break. The break came in handy for the squad that had suffered losses at the hands of Romford, Isle of Wight and Oxford. During the break Pitbulls went back to the drawing board with coach Ian Clarke to make sure the team returned to action well prepared.
The first encounter for the team was at Streatham, where the Bruins hosted the Pitbulls for a Sunday evening fixture. The game didn’t get off to the best of starts for the Bristol side as the Bruins pulled ahead with a quick couple of goals. By the end of the first, Pitbulls’ Adi Smith had managed to pull one back leaving the score at 2-1.
During the break Pitbulls coach Ian Clarke gave his team a thorough talking to. “I have to admit that we weren’t awake for the game and we needed a good dressing down to get us back in the game.” Clarke also shuffled the lines during the break to liven his side up.
The second period saw the Pitbulls return to the ice and go after the Bruins. After a quick goal, again from Adi Smith, the Pitbulls used the momentum from the goal and solid goaltending from Michael Crisp to take control of the game.
In the second period Bristol did suffer a costly loss as team Captain Tom Eggerton, left the game with a lower body injury after a small get together of players in front of the Pitbulls goal. Despite the thinned defensive corps the Pitbulls kept the pressure on and saw Adi Smith complete his hat-trick. Pitbulls had further goals from Jon Griffiths, Fen Rowan, Adam Young and Ian Clarke with Michael Crisp stopping 27 shots for the 7-2 win.
After the Bruins match, the Pitbulls had another week off from games, which was used to build up for the next fixture against League Championship contenders Peterborough Islanders. Bristol received further bad news on the injury front as forward Adam Young will be sidelined until the new year with an upper body injury. Young had put up impressive stats playing on a line with Smith and Liam Williams.
The Islanders match turned out to be a great night for ‘big’ Adi Smith, who picked up from where he left off against the Streatham side. Before the beginning of the game coach Clarke demanded his players start the game in a positive manner and the the Pitbulls were ahead on the score board after the first 20 minutes of action. Coach Clarke had his request delivered by the midway point of the period after Adi Smith had scored his first two of the night.
The Pitbulls lost forward Jamie Chillcot to injury in the first period after being hit in the head. The second period saw more of the Adi Smith show when he went on to score two more goals. However, the Islanders were not going to let the Pitbulls skate away with it and struck back with two quick goals to bring the score to 4-2. Peterborough brought everything they had to the table in the third. However Bristol managed to hold on to the lead with insurance goals from Paul Davies and Jon Griffiths to make the final score 7-4 for the Pitbulls.
“After the three straight losses following the Chelmsford win, it was important for us to get a win against Streatham and build on from that,” said Bristol Pitbulls Alternate Captain, Adi Smith. “We knew we had to go hard from the opening face off against Peterborough and our game plan worked. We took control of the game early and never looked back. An additional bonus for the guys is to work hard in games so we can have fun on Thursdays in training.”
The Pitbulls can’t have too much fun though as they will face Solent and Gosport Devils at Frogmore Street on the 28th of November.
Contact the author: janne.virtenen@prohockeynews.com
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