BRADFORD Dragons' home match against last season's quadruple-winning Manchester Magic proved a challenge too far as the visitors notched an 86-79 victory in their English Basketball League Division One clash.

Defeats by 20-plus points were the norm when the Dragons faced the Mancunians last season and Magic had already beaten them 99-85 this season in the National Trophy.

Pre-match Dragons confidence was rocked when Manchester took a 10-0 lead after three minutes, forcing the hosts to call for an early time-out.

It was a timely intervention as the Dragons finally got into their stride, only trailing 25-20 at the end of the opening quarter, and they bossed the first five minutes of the second quarter to lead 32-31, causing Manchester head coach Paul Middleton to call for his own time-out.

By half-time, Bradford were leading 41-38, with the advantage switching to and fro before the Dragons were 57-52 in front with three-and-half minutes of the period left, following a two-point lay-up by French forward Florent Levazeux.

Yet a succession of Dragons turnovers, which were duly converted into points, helped Manchester level the scores 90 seconds later and, despite a couple of free throws by Rafi Saipe, Magic went into the final quarter with a 66-62 advantage.

Levazeux scored again, this time with a slam dunk, early in the final quarter to reduce the deficit, only to have a technical foul awarded against him for over-exuberantly hanging on to the rim of the basket.

The two teams matched each other shot for shot and three minutes in, a Marcus Gooding three-pointer saw Manchester's advantage down to a single point at 71-70 – but that was as good as it would get for Bradford.

Another succession of missed chances by the home side helped Magic increase the lead to nine points with three-and-a-half minutes remaining. However, a minute later a couple of three-point scores put Bradford right back in it at 79-76 behind.

As the game reached its climax, Bradford were forced to give away fouls in an attempt to gain back possession, but with Manchester sinking free throws, there was no way back for the hosts in what was a thrilling match.

Gooding headed the Dragons scoring with 19 points, while also contributing ten assists. Saipe weighed in with 14, as did Ricky Fetske, with Rihards Sulcs and Jermayne Laing chipping in 12 and 11 respectively.

Top-scorer Gooding said: "We started off really slow, which allowed Manchester to gain confidence, but we regrouped well and were able to take the lead going into the half.

"I knew it was going to be a tough second half and that the game could go either way. We just didn't keep them off the glass well enough when we most needed to.

"Offensive rebounds hurt us, for sure, and we also gave some crucial turnovers that were non-characteristic of us."

Gooding's fellow American Fetske added: "It was a disappointing result as we made too many mistakes.

"Manchester had a strong game-plan and it was an uphill battle in the fourth quarter, trying to regain the lead that we relinquished in the third.

"However, there are positives that we can take from the game, including improved rebounding from previous weeks and effective transition defence throughout. We will be building upon these positives going into our final two games before the Christmas break."

The Dragons are at Leicester Warriors on Saturday (3pm) and finish their 2016 schedule at Hemel Storm a week on Saturday (7pm).