Dragons Split their Opening Two League Fixtures
The Bradford Dragons opened their regular season campaign with a pair of away fixtures. The double-header weekend started with a true Yorkshire derby against long time rivals Leeds Carnegie. The local derby is always a tight and competitive affair and this weekends outing proved to be no different, as the first quarter could not separate the two teams. After a fierce first half the Dragons found themselves down by eight points fuelled by a rowdy home team fan base and some aggressive play by ex-Dragon Oliver Hylands. The second half started in favor of the home team as Leeds pulled out to a fifteen-point lead and took a stranglehold on the game. The Dragons however, fuelled by their fiery nature were not yet ready to hand over the game and mid way through the fourth quarter mounted a comeback that saw them get to within three points of the home team before finally running out of time.
Sunday's away fixture down the M6 to a well-drilled and strong Bristol Flyers team saw the Dragons get out to an impressive start, quickly quieting the home crowd and grounding the Flyers. In only their second outing of the regular season the Dragons appeared to have found their wings as they roared out to a 49 – 32 lead at the half. The second half saw an aggressive fight back mounted by the Flyers led by Keliauskas, (20 points) and Streete, (17 points), but a collective team effort by the Dragons saw off the Flyers with a final score line in favor of the Dragons, 87 – 74, (Chris McGrew 17 points, Richard Sulcs 16 points, Dan Foley 15 points, Carl Pearson 12 points, Alex Navarro 11 points and Jermaine Lang 10 points. Elsewhere for Dragons, the new Dragons 2 men’s team, lost heavily in their opening Leeds & District league by 31 – 132 to Leeds Lithuanians, Dragons U16 hammered Leeds Carnegie U16 second team by 92 – 46, Dragons U15 beat visitors York Eagles U15 80 - 41 but pride of place goes to the new Dragons U13 team as they travelled to Manchester to beat the mighty Manchester Magic U13 first team 71 – 67 and then stayed for a second game to beat Magic u13 second team 85 – 40. Dragons U13 are still unbeaten and now top their league table on a 6 – 0 split Next Dragons 1 home game is National League fixture against Medway Park Crusaders on Saturday 9/11/13, tip off 6.15pm in the Dragons Den, Trinity Green sports hall, Bradford College, Trinity Road, Bradford BD5 0JE. Admission is £5 for adults, £2.50 for under 18s, students, concessions etc and £10 for a family ticket [2 adults + 2 children]. This followed the next day by another National League fixture against Reading Rockets on Sunday 10/11/13, tip off 2.15pm also in the Dragons Den. Admission prices the same Dragons are grateful for the support of ‘Super Spray Paints’ and ‘Joshila Sports Limited’. For more details on the Bradford Dragons go to www.bradforddragons.co.uk Or visit Bradford Dragons for the Community on Facebook Bradford Eurocamp takes place between Monday 04/08/14 and Friday 08/08/14 based at Bradford College, visit www.bradfordeurocamp.co.uk for more information and contact info@bradforddragons.co.uk to order a free colour brochure |