ICE HOCKEY: A depleted Bristol Pitbulls side pulled off an impressive victory at Romford Fury to maintain their ENL title charge.

The Pitbulls fielded four relatively unexperienced teenagers after five key performers – including top scorers Mike Smith and Sammy Hayman – were forced to miss out on the trip to London on Saturday.

But Phil Dibble, 17, Miley McAna, 16, Liam Williams, 16, and Jamie Trigg, 16, helped the Pitbulls secure a 4-0 success.

Steve Osman (2), man-of-the-match Richard Hargreaves and import Adrian Esposito were on target to move the Pitbulls up to fourth in the league with three games in hand over most of their rivals.

Head coach Hargreaves said: "It was a fantastic performance considering we were without five of our key players. The young lads that came in did brilliant for us.

"I wasn't too sure what to expect from Romford, but we knew that they had run the Swindon Wildcats close this year and London teams are renowned for a physical approach. We went there with a game plan and a system but the players also showed the versatility to adapt to whatever Romford tried to throw at us.

"I expected it to be a tighter game but, in the end, we produced our best defensive display of the season and got our rewards."

The Pitbulls are back in action this coming weekend when they face a double header. They play Chelmsford at the Bristol Ice Rink on Saturday before a trip to the Swindon Wildcats 24 hours later.

Hargreaves is expected to have his five missing players available again and said: "It will be good to have them all back again. It gives me plenty of options because the lads who played at Romford did fantastically as well."