The Bristol Honda Pitbulls suffered heartbreak after conceding a game-winning goal with just 52 seconds left on the clock to lose 3-2 at the Solent Devils.

Solent have only lost once at home this season, to hot title favourites Streatham, in a building that is notoriously difficult to take points away from due to its extremely small ice pad. But that knowledge was of little consequence to a Pitbulls team who felt that they had done enough to take more away from the game.

Pitbulls Head Coach, Jamie Elson, said: “Going into Solent is always going to be very different from the rest of the year’s games and a big character test for a team. It’s a very challenging rink to go into and get a result from, especially for a new and younger team like us and where we are early in our season.

“I think the fact that, as a group, we are bitterly disappointed to be coming away with nothing says a lot about us right now.”

A goalless first period saw Pitbulls outshoot their hosts, with both teams producing the higher shots on goal count that the smaller playing surface tends to lend itself to.

It would be Solent who would break the deadlock with two quick goals either side of the halfway mark as Bristol struggled to match their first period intensity. However, a late penalty on Solent’s Ben Lock was quickly converted into a powerplay goal by Cain Russell to halve the deficit at the first break.

Elson said: “We didn’t start as well as we would have liked but we battled hard and matched them through the opening period, I felt.

“It takes time to get used to the lack of space and how quickly things happen. But we dug in and battled and came out at 0-0 still.

“The second period, though, I felt we switched off a bit and lost some of our battle and compete levels and it cost us as we gave up two scrappy goals around the net where we really should have been on top of things.  But, give the guys credit, we had a great response and Cain Russell, in particular, was almost unplayable. He really got after the game and earned us two powerplays which we converted. Cain, himself, scoring one that will be hard to beat for goal of the year and really showed why we are so excited to have him part of our group.”

That second powerplay goal to tie the game came just 51 seconds into the third period. With Ben Lock sitting out his second penalty in the space of a minute, Russell was the first player back to collect a dumped puck. He then skated coast to coast, beating two Solent players on the way, before beating Christian Cole on his glove side.

Bristol survived a late Delaying the Game penalty on Tom Stephens only to see Ralfs Circenis strike the killer blow in the final minute.

Elson said: “Losing like that hurts, for sure, and the group were devastated after the game. I guess that says a lot about where we are right now and how we are coming together.

“The two loses we’ve had this year were games we should have taken points from. It’s all a learning curve for us as a new team to find a way of turning this level of pressure into goals and not be in these tight situations late on when we feel we have grafted and put the right level of work in throughout the game to generate chances.

“It’s just a shame as both these games are matches that double up for the cup campaign also. So now we are in a situation where we really must beat Solent when they come to us to give ourselves a chance to progress. Currently, that game isn’t in the diary, although we have offered them several options to come and play us. We look forward to being able to confirm this fixture soon.

“It will certainly be a big one once it is arranged and we will need to be at our best to make sure we give ourselves a chance to beat them as they are a really hard working team.”