Billingham Bombers v Bradford Bulldogs 12 October 2003.

On Sunday 12 October 2003 the Bombers welcomed the players supporters and officials of Bradford Bulldogs.

Billinghams strength was bolstered by the return of Stephen V Johnson and Simon Hehir. Unfortunately Brian Perry was unavailable.

In a week that had also seen Peter Winn announce via press releases that he had signed blue liner Ian Richardson, and Simon Burns for the Whitley Warriors the reality transpired that Simon Burns had signed for the Warriors and would be playing for them this weekend. Ian Richardson however, had been approached and considered the move but felt his allegiance to the Billingham team and his team mates was stronger than the lure of Whitley Bay .

Bradford had had a stronger start to their season than usual that was partly due to the arrival of Finn Ari Nurmi who was finding the goal on a regular basis and was in the top ten of league scorers.

First Period

The Bombers started well maintaining possession and attacked the Bradford net, a few shots onto Johnnie Muff in the Bradford goal dropped back to the Bombers as rebounds, this allowed the Bombers to keep the pressure on the Bradford side.

The Bombers opened their scoring at 2:48 as James McCabe layed a pass off to Jamie Pattison who took a long slap shot and beat Muff in the bottom corner of the goal and gaining Jamie his first Bombers goal.

The Bulldogs found themselves a man short at 5:11 as Craig Dyson was called for interference

The Bombers second came 3 minutes later on the power play as Ian Richardson let fly with another powerful long range shot from the point, assisted by Paul Windridge and Scott Ward.

Bradford’s Matt Viney handed the Bombers another power play at 7:00 when he took a 2-minute sit for roughing. However the Bombers were not able to make gain from the advantage and Bradford played the penalty off without loss.

The Bombers found themselves a man down at 12:10 as Phil Pritchard was called for tripping.

Bradford pushed into the Billingham zone and Ari Nurmi released a wrist shot that found the back of the Billingham net and cut the Billingham lead, assisted by Andy Brown and Craig Dyson at 12:48.

Bradford were again on the wrong side of Reff Steven Wardell who called Ari Nurmi for a 2 minute holding call at 13:05

The Bombers pushed forward looking to establish themselves in the Bradford zone, Bradford thwarted the pressure and then as the power play was coming to an end an unassisted effort from Billingham Captain Paul Windridge found the back of the Bulldogs net to give Billingham their third goal of the game.

As the second came to an end the Bombers were passing the puck around well and moving well in the Bradford zone, the combination of Windridge Johnson and Thornton was looking impressive, a shot from Steven V Johnson found the net and took the Bombers tally to 4 with assists to Paul Windridge and Andy Thornton.

The first closed Billingham Bombers 4: Bradford Bulldogs 1

Second Period

The second opened and only 18 seconds into the period the Bulldogs had cut the bombers lead to 2 goals, when at 20:18 Ari Nurmi got his second marker of the night an even handed goal assisted by Craig Dyson.

The Bombers seemed to have eased off and found them selves short handed at 23:20 as Andy Wells was called for a 2 minute hooking penalty. This was played off without loss.

With the game back even handed Bombers increased their comfort zone with a goal from Scott Ward at 29:05, with assists to Paul Windridge and Steven V Johnson.

Bradford’s Dean Ibbotson took a 2 + 10 penalty for a blow to the head at 26:52.

With the 2 min penalty played off and play back to even handed it was the Bulldogs who hit a purple patch netting two goals in 47 seconds. Goal 3 for Bradford came at 32:18 an even handed goal scored by Gaven Penn assist by Dan Baldwin.

As play resumed at 33:04 Bombers Simon Hehir collected a 2-minute elbows penalty, the power play and the recent goal spurred Bradford on to score at 33:15 a power play goal scored by Andy Brown with assist to Adam Chamberlain.

As the third closed Bradford collected a 2-minute bench minor for delay of the game.

The Bombers seemed to ease right off in the second and allowed Bradford the foothold back into the game.

The second closed Billingham Bombers 5: Bradford Bulldogs 4

Third Period

The Bombers were given a team talk at the end of the second and were criticised by coach Terry Ward for taking their foot off the gas and allowing Bradford back into the game.

The Bombers pushed to find the form of the first period and exceeded their first period performance, some good skating, sharp passing and inventive plays.

At 50:34 the Bombers stretched their advantage as Steven V got the Bombers 7th goal of the night assisted by Ian Richardson and Paul Windridge at 50:34. Billinghams Lee Fletcher found himself on the penalty bench for 2 minutes for a slashing call.

Billingham sealed their victory at 58:24 when Andy Thornton hit home a Scott Ward rebound to put the game beyond doubt at 58:24

The third closed Billingham Bombers 8: Blackburn Hawks 4

Man of the match

Paul Windridge.