Bradford Dragons completed the first half of their 2017/18 schedule, with a War of the Roses victory (73-79) at Lancashire Spinners on Saturday evening, although a second half recovery from the hosts almost rewarded them with their first points of the season.

This season, the Spinners have gone through a period of rebuilding, which has been reflected in a torrid start to their season, ten games played and ten defeats, before Saturday’s fixture. However, the Lancashire side have been boosted in recent weeks with the additions of Harold Trobo, Oliver Ladlow and Allie Fullah, the latter only being announced on the morning of the game.

Meanwhile, the Dragons were coming into the game on the back of an accomplished victory against Reading Rockets, in the Dragons’ Den the previous weekend.

Bradford’s Latvian forward, Rihards Šulcs (sponsored by Templewood Photography) opened the scoring for the visitors, with only thirty seconds played, however the scores were immediately levelled by Lancashire’s new boy, Fullah, down the other end.

The game continued to follow a similar pattern, with one team’s lead being cancelled out by the opposition. But, with three and a half minutes of the opening period remaining Fullah stepped up again to give his side the first clear lead of the game (17-13), prompting the Bradford coach, Chris Mellor, to call for time.

Whatever he said to his players, clearly had the desired effect, as the Dragons closed out the quarter with a seven-point advantage (19-26).
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Aristide Baka pulled two points back for the hosts, straight from the restart but, a three from Marcus Gooding (sponsored by Gooding Funeral Services) quickly restored Bradford’s cushion.

Reading, were in a similar position, following the postponement of their game against Loughborough Student Riders and therefore the two sides agreed to pull this one forward.

​The teams had only recently met in Reading, with the Rockets inflicting a heavy, twenty-one-point defeat upon Bradford, since which the Dragons have lost four from five subsequent league fixtures. In contrast, the Rockets were sitting comfortably, with a record of seven wins from nine for the season so far.

It was the Berkshire side that put the first points on the board, Sydney Donaldson sinking his two-point jump shot. Rafi Saipe (sponsored by Made4Fighters) levelled, almost immediately before Rihards Šulcs (Sponsored by Templewood Photography) gave the hosts the lead.

This marks a huge improvement on the previous season, in which the seaside club were embroiled in a four-way relegation battle – ultimately avoiding the drop by a single win margin.

The Dragons got off to a fantastic start with three pointers from Rafi Saipe (sponsored by Made4Fighters) and Ricky Fetske, either side of a two from Jermaine Laing, putting the visitors eight points in front. Half way through the opening period, the Dragons had maintained a one hundred percent shot conversion, leading 12-17.