LIGHTNING doesn't strike twice but in the case of Bradford Dragons, the same cannot be said about thunder – Worthing Thunder, to be precise.

The south-coast team visited the Dragons' Den for Bradford's final home game of the season and inflicted a second defeat on them this campaign, following up their 84-80 victory in Sussex with an 87-78 triumph.

The game was delayed, for the second home game in a row, by electronic scoreboard issues and this time they could not be resolved, with a more archaic method of scoring and time-keeping being employed instead.

Although the visitors struck first, the Dragons stuck to them like limpets and led 26-23 after the first quarter, Worthing holding a 44-40 edge by half-time.

Both coaches then called a time-out early in the third quarter – firstly Worthing at 44-46 and secondly Bradford at 46-48.

Dragons coach Chris Mellor's intervention did no good, however, as they again went into a third-quarter meltdown, finishing it by trailing 70-53.

Bradford improved in the last period but they had given themselves too much to do against competitive visitors.

Credit is also due to the two referees and the table officials, who managed the game – which could easily have been called off in difficult circumstances due to the electronic problems.

Nicholas Moore finished the contest with 21 points for Bradford, while Rihards Sulcs – their longest-serving player – was just one point behind.

Mellor said: "We were okay in the first half but in the third quarter it got away from us.

"Their shooting percentage in the third must have been very high and even though we went on a late run, we were never going to get close. It was a poor performance overall."

The Dragons still have a couple more games to play, starting at Manchester Magic – the season's stand-out team – on Saturday and a week later at fourth-placed Hemel Storm.

Although the Dragons are six points above the relegation spots in English League Division One, it is still mathematically possible, with other teams having games in hand, that they could yet get dragged into the dogfight.

Meanwhile, the Dragons under-18s beat York Eagles 79-56 in Saturday's curtain raiser, while the under-16s lost against Manchester Magic at Buttershaw Business and Enterprise College (BBEC). The under-14s beat York Eagles 71-67 at home and Leeds Force II 107-24 away.