LUKAS Smital was full of praise for his Bracknell Bees team as they bounced back from their 3-0 home defeat by Telford Tigers on Saturday to win 7-2 at Hull Pirates the following night, writes Dave Wright.

“The team’s work ethic and positive attitude were phenomenal,” said the player-coach.

“We played good, disciplined hockey and converted our chances.

“We stuck with the game plan for 60 minutes without making too many major errors.”

While they had not played badly against the league leaders, Sunday’s victory still came as something of a shock, especially the winning margin.

Bees had lost their previous 11 games and had managed only seven goals in the last eight of them.

They were also missing four players due to injury.

But the battling Bees turned the form book upside down to thrash a Hull side they had hammered 8-3 at The Hive early last month.

No wonder Bracknell fans were singing: “Can we play you every week?”

The early exchanges were fairly even and it wasn’t until just before the end of the opening period when Harvey Stead broke the deadlock from a chance created by James Galazzi.

The second period was less than 90 seconds old when Lee Bonner brought the scores level but the Thompson brothers restored their side’s lead on 31:26 with Shaun providing the assist for Carl.

Alex Barker made it 3-1 on 37:29, only for a quick reply from Ugnius Cizas.

With just a goal in it, the game could have gone either way going into the final period.

The next goal was crucial and it went to Bracknell on 42:20 with Shaun Thompson the man on target.

With net-minder Alex Mettam making some vital saves, Bees were gaining in confidence and killing off the penalty minutes without too many problems.

They extended their advantage to 5-2 on 49 minutes thanks to Barker and assists from David Gaborcik and Smital.

There was now no stopping the visitors and further strikes from Carl Thompson (54:23) and Olegs Lascenko (55:33) rounded off an outstanding team performance.

And it was Latvian Lascenko who was voted his side’s man of the match.

On Saturday, the honour had gone to teenager Rio Grinell-Parke for the second time this month.

The Great Britain Under-18 forward wasn’t able to get on the goal-sheet, but, like the rest of the Bees, it certainly wasn’t through lack of trying.

In all, they had 28 shots at the Tigers’ goal, just five in the middle stanza, but out-shooting the visitors 10-8 in the final 20 minutes.

Telford recorded their 29th win in 36 games courtesy of goals from Doug Clarkson on 15:45, Clubroom Horton 27:17 and Corey McGowan six seconds before the final hooter, by which time Bees had withdrawn Mettam.

The net-minder gave another excellent display on a night when he faced 38 shots at his goal.

Even though the league leaders were the visitors, the game attracted a disappointing low crowd and Bees will be hoping for a much better attendance for Sunday’s game against second-in-the-table MK Lightning (6pm).

  • BRACKNELL defender Liam Steele and forward Troy Dean have been named in the England under-14 squad for 2017, while net-minder Ella Howard and defenceman Callum Burr are first reserves for their respective positions.