ANDY BROWN praised his Bradford Bulldogs team for “digging in” to secure their first win of the 2024-25 NIHL North Two season by beating league newcomers Deeside Ducks.

Two goals from Tom Mardell and strikes from Kacper Andrukianiec and Jacob Brownlie - who struck the game-winner with just over three minutes remaining - were enough for a 4-3 triumph on the road.

The result lifted the Bulldogs off the foot of the table and above the Ducks and Nottingham Lions 2.

But it was hard going, according to head coach Brown, particularly after seeing his team fall behind with just 36 seconds on the board when former Bulldogs forward Michael Speare fired past Jake Lowndes.

They pulled level just under four minutes later through Andrukianiec but were chasing the game again when Josh Jones restored the home side’s lead at 15.53.

Mardell quickly levelled for the Bulldogs within 26 seconds and that was how the game stayed until the early part of the third period, the Bulldogs’ forward doubling his tally just 31 seconds after the restart.

But momentum swung again when Bradford’s Dave Williams took a cross-checking call in the 55th minute to hand the home side a five-minute power play.

They capitalised on this to level for a second time when Charlie Spridgeon found the net just over a minute into the man advantage.

But the drama was to come at the other end when Mardell chased a clearance down from the Bulldogs’ zone, found the supporting Brownlie at the back post from where the young defenceman fired home for a shorthanded match-winning strike at 56.42.

“It was great to get our first win of the season,” said Brown.

“We got off to a bad start by conceding a weak goal in the first shift of the game, but we bounced back.

“I then felt like we controlled large parts of the first but then we turned the puck over cheaply in the O-zone to gift them a second.

“Again though we showed great character to hit straight back, got ourselves ahead early in the third and we looked to be controlling the game until we took a silly major penalty.

“They equalised and then I was just hoping we could hold out and go to overtime.

“But when we got that shorthanded goal, got our second wind and took the points.”

The Bulldogs are next in action in Coventry on Saturday, October 19 and then back at ‘The Pound’ against Altrincham Aces on Sunday, October 20 (face-off, 5.30pm).