WHILE Bradford Bulldogs have put some welcome distance between themselves and the bottom two in NIHL North Two, this weekend presents an opportunity to actually move up the regular standings.

Sunday’s clash at Bradford Ice Arena (face-off 5.30pm) brings together two teams with contrasting fortunes in the Bulldogs and visitors Sheffield Titans.

Since snapping a nine-game losing streak at Billingham Buccaneers two weeks ago, the Bulldogs have extended their winning run to three games thanks to wins over Kingston Sharks and Altrincham Aces last weekend.

The Titans, however, are doing it tough at the moment and will arrive at Little Horton Lane on the back of a three-game losing streak, although those defeats have all been against current top three teams.

Either way, it is the Bulldogs who will go into the clash with more reason to be confident and looking to exact revenge after the Titans’ previous visit on October 15 saw them snatch a 6-5 victory with just 18 seconds remaining.

A win for the Bulldogs this time out will be enough to see them leapfrog the Titans into sixth spot.

Bulldogs’ head coach Andy Brown has been pleased with the improvements made by his players in recent weeks and wants them to take another step forward on Sunday.

“Last weekend showed what we are capable of, coming from behind in both games to really earn those two points on both days,” said Brown.

Once again it was the top line featuring Connor Medley and Josh Stockton that did most of the damage for the Bulldogs.

Trailing 4-0 inside the first period, the prospects looked bleak for the Bulldogs on Saturday afternoon at Kingston, but two goals from captain Dean Boothroyd dragged his team back into the contest.

They then went into the third trailing by just one goal after further strikes from Jason Devaney and Medley.

The comeback was then completed in emphatic style in the final 20 minutes, Michael Speare getting his first of the season before Stockton added a stylish game-winner and Medley doubled his tally to make it 7-5 with just 12 seconds remaining.

After two hard-fought periods on home ice against Altrincham the following day, the Bulldogs could count themselves slightly unfortunate to be 2-0 down, having matched a team who they lost 4-3 on the road to three weeks earlier.

But within eight seconds of the third period beginning, the Bulldogs were on the board, Stockton setting up Medley for a sliding finish.

Just under four minutes later, Stockton was quickest to react to a loose puck to score on a wraparound before he emulated his skilful finish from the day before in Hull, winning the puck back on the edge of the zone before rounding netminder Mike Rogers and sliding the puck into the open net for a short-handed game-winning strike at 50.13.

“The chemistry between Stocko and Medley seems to get better each week and they were massive again for us in both games,” added Brown.

“We’re doing a lot of things right now that we weren’t doing through most of October. I wouldn’t say we’ve turned a corner, there is still a long way to go, but the signs are positive at the minute and we’ve got a chance this weekend to take another significant step forward.”