Bracknell 6 - 2 Cardiff Dragons

The under 12’s travelled to Bracknell to meet the league leaders in what turned out to be a great advert for under12’s hockey.

Cardiff were given a great pre game talk by Zbynek in an attempt to relax the boys and let them go into the game full of confidence. This certainly proved to be the case as the Dragons took the game to Bracknell from the start.

The 1st period showed the Dragons players that they could compete with Bracknell and it wasn’t until 18 seconds from the end of the 1st period that Bracknell managed to break the deadlock which was cruel on the Dragons who had defended superbly throughout the period.

The 2nd period saw another great effort by the Dragons as they constantly broke up Bracknell's attacks and hit them with quick counter attacks and when Bracknell against the run of play managed to add a 2nd goal at 20:04, the Dragons responded magnificently pulling a goal back just 1.58 later through an unassisted goal by Tom Parkinson.

The Dragons out shoot Bracknell 10-6 in the 2nd period and I’m certain this hasn't or won't happen many times to Bracknell this season.

The 3rd period got off to a bad start for the Dragons who fell 3-1 down just 40 seconds after the restart, and then conceded a 4th 3 minutes later as they began to tire. To their credit the Dragons kept on battling away and were rewarded with a delayed penalty goal scored by Callum Buglass firing in from the blue line to bring the score back to 4-2 in Bracknell's favour.

With Net-minder James Whiting in superb form and the Dragons players literally throwing themselves in front of everything especially Owen Griffiths who took a puck to the ribs after a superb diving block it was cruel on them that Bracknell scored 2 late goals to complete the scoring and end the game 6-2.

The Dragons need to take great heart from this game, Bracknell are a very good team but the Dragons showed great heart and battling qualities and were never overawed by Bracknell. Well done boys each and everyone of you played a fantastic game.

STATS:
Tom Parkinson 1+0
Callum Buglass 1+0

M.O.M Sam Roberts

Spirit James Whiting

Shots on goal
Cardiff 17
Bracknell 35

Match Report by Scott Buglass
U12's Manager.