British Champs Round 1 - Halifax Bruising Banditas v Granite City Roller Derby - Report

Photo courtesy of Jason Garnett

Halifax Bruising Banditas 117 - 130 Granite City Roller Derby

What a way to start our 2017 British Champs campaign!

We have face the wonderful skaters of Granite City Roller Derby each year since the British Champs began and each year they have been a good litmus test of how far we have come as a team.

Back in 2015 we lost by approximately 200 points. Last year we faced them in Tier 4 and lost by 70 points. This year we face them in Tier 3 and were determined to narrow the gap and even steal the win from under them.

Unfortunately we didn't take the win this time round but we came the closest yet and gave the Granite team one heck of a game! We brought the game to Granite from the first whistle. Our coach has been working with us to eliminate the first 10 minutes jitters and in this game it worked wonders. We started strong and drummed up a 30 point lead within 7 minutes. We put Granite on the back foot and forced them to respond.

As ever, Granite are never a team to be underestimated and found their stride mid-way through the first half. They began to claw the lead back and regained the lead for a while before we took it straight back of them again a few jams later. We were over the moon to go into the half time break in the lead!

Granite suffered a slew of penalties but were able to settle down again and seemed to find a new solidity in the second half. We mixed up our tactics to match their strategy and ensured that no matter what we weren't going to allow the game to get away from us. The second half saw the lead change a number of times as both teams played their hardest and slogged in and against the toughest of walls.

Sadly for us the team from Aberdeen pulled away in the last 5 minutes and took a 17 point victory. The Banditas, however, were far from disappointed. We have never come this close to beating out perennial Tier mates and a score like this represents our hard training and close-knit teamwork we've cultivated over the past 2 years. The performance on track was fantastic and we couldn't be happier with what we did.

The start to our Tier 3 campaign may not have started with a win but it did start with a phenomenal performance from the Banditas and we feel confident in the rest of the year if we can continue and improve on what we did against Granite City.

Our next game is on the 22nd April in Aberdeen against Furness Firecrackers and after that is our first home game of the season on the 21st May! We really hope you can join us as we face North Wales Roller Derby!

Awards

Halifax Bruising Banditas

Best Jammer - Millie Hurtz

Best Blocker - Psycho

MVP - Sonic Ruth

Granite City Roller Derby

Best Jammer - Kami Tazi

Best Blocker - Berocca Bama

MVP - Rock 'n' Riot

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