By Xanthe Boursier-Gazzard

The Bristol Honda Pitbulls faced a 4-6 defeat last night in the Pound after a game that saw the home side chasing opportunities to lower their deficit.

Heading into the game, the home team were without defensemen Ben Davies and Sam Smith through injury but saw the addition of Joey Caccavale and Lee Duance stepping up from the Pitbulls 2’s and Chelmsford Chieftains defenseman Jay King making an appearance in the line-up.

The Wildcats got the early start in the first period, with them snatching up their first goal just 23 seconds into the game as Aaron Nell fired on net with a deflected shot, allowing Balint Pakozdi to pick up the rebound and deliver it to the back of the net. Ed Bradley tailed this for the visitors by sniping a shot that found its way past Nappier, getting their second just two minutes later. Pryce was quick to reciprocate for the home team, turning over the puck and bringing it forward to weave a shot past Renny Marr. The Wildcats responded to this with two more goals in quick succession, the first coming from Josh Shaw, who pushed the puck past the crowd formed in front of the net, and the second from Sam Bullas, who took the puck swiftly down the ice following two penalties taken on both teams and scored evenhanded. The Pitbulls had one more goal left in them as the first period ended with a scoreline of 4-2 as Bayley Harewood cut past Tomasz Malasinski and took a shot from the right face-off spot, sweeping the puck to the net, which was eventually pushed past Marr.

The second period saw the Wildcats applying pressure early on, with multiple shots deflected or denied by Nappier before Jake Bricknell lit the lamp once more for the away side. The remainder of the period saw the Pitbulls take back possession and lower Swindon’s three-goal lead to one, with Rhys Smetham receiving a drop pass from Harewood and flicking the puck high into the net, followed by Elliot Lewis, who got the breakaway and pushed another shot through the pads of Marr, getting the score to 5-4.

The third and final period got off to a slower start for both teams despite the Wildcats having two power play opportunities early on due to both Bari McKenzie and Ewan Hill heading to the penalty box just minutes apart. Shots were taken from Jacob White-Sey and Harewood; however, the home team couldn’t find the equaliser before Padozdi finalised the score at 6-4, driving the puck to the back of the net.

Man of the Match for the visitors went to Glenn Billing and to Rhys Smetham for your Bristol Honda Pitbulls.

Both Reece, his family, and everyone at the Pitbulls would like to thank you all for the support shown following his injury during the game last night and give a massive thank you to all that stepped in to help. Reece is now doing okay and returned from the hospital this morning.

Image : Pete Fears