A patched-up Bradford first team put in a poor display as they slumped to a 6-2 defeat at fellow strugglers Brigg.

Injuries and unavailability saw a much-changed side struggle to outwit mediocre opposition and, while players were asked to take on unfamiliar roles, there could be little excuse for Bradford’s general standard of play.

Despite a bright start, putting Brigg under pressure with some good play, the performance deteriorated as the game progressed.

Bradford did cut through the opposition on occasions with some fine passing moves but unfortunately players did not learn from that effective style of play, giving the ball away cheaply throughout the match.

Yet there were still some positive performances – particularly from man of the match Michael Paine and Steve Hodgson, who took the game to the opposition tirelessly and scored one of the goals. Nick Wright added the other.

There was better news for the Bradford third team as a Nim Pathmanathan hat-trick earned a 3-0 victory over their Brigg counterparts to lift them to second in the table.

Bradford started brightly as they looked for a third successive win, scoring twice in the opening ten minutes from well-struck penalty corners.

Brigg were allowed back into the contest in terms of possession and goalkeeper Tim Bailey had to make two good saves at the start of the second half.

But Bradford sealed the game midway through the second half when another penalty corner was converted and they then dominated the closing stages as James Hunt and Joel Davison combined well.

Meanwhile, the Bradford-Halifax under-14 girls team were without several Bradford representatives for match day three and lost 3-0 in the first of two games against Driffield.

Liz Wilkinson, who was joined in the side by fellow Bradford Juniors player Hannah Roome, was worked particularly hard in defence.

An improved performance in the second fixture saw Roome involved in the Bradford-Halifax goal as they earned a 1-1 draw.

Bradford’s under-16 squad travelled to Hull for the North Indoor Championships and, with limited preparation time and experience of the indoor game, could only win one of their five games.

This 2-0 victory over Rossall School in the final match followed defeats to Doncaster (3-2), Oakwood College (4-2), South Cheshire (6-1) and Egglescliffe, who needed a three-times taken late penalty corner to win 1-0.

Squad: Charlie Western (gk), James Smith, Guy Sutcliffe, James Hunt, Andy Blanchfield, Michael Jones (two goals), Nick Wright (four goals) and Callum Hodson (one goal).