Final Score - Oxford : Bristol

Sunday 30th August 2009

The second game of the two-game challenge series against the Bristol Pitbulls was held at Oxford on Sunday. The first game on the previous evening saw Oxford victorious, so Bristol were looking to avenge the defeat.

Both teams were short of some players, though Oxford were boosted by the appearance of experienced Paul Gore, making his debut having previously iced for Milton Keynes.

Unlike the first match play throughout the game was continuously broken up by minor penalties. This disrupted the rhythm of both sides, but seemed to affect Oxford more as they're still trying to get the power-play to fire.

Bristol scored first, after having set up a number of scoring opportunities. In spite of the effort, Oxford seemed to be struggling to re-establish the fluency that had been a feature of the previous game.

The first period ended one all. Bristol Continued to play well into the second period. With effective defense and several smart stops by the young netminder, they frustratingly prevented the home side from scoring. The visitors themselves managed to put the puck in the back of the Oxford net twice more and went three one up.

Oxford continued to press and managed to score, but Bristol were coping well with the officiating and the efforts of the home side and three more even-handed goals, securing victory by a two-goal margin. Several Bristol players, including the Hargreaves brothers (who both iced for Oxford last season), put in fine performances.

The manor of the defeat will be a concern to coach Anderson, but there were many positive signs. Hopefully, it will have proved useful ahead of the tough match against the odds-on championship favourites Invicta this week end.