During the second quarter the Bulls squandered good field position on several occasions with the Pirates defence standing firm and getting a pick on the process. With the Pirates offence being swarmed by the hard hitting Bulls’ D, they struggled to gain any ground and DE Chris Ross capitalised when he broke up the option and landed on the loose ball. Again the Bulls’ O couldn’t convert the field position into points and the half ended 7-0 to the Bulls.

The third quarter continued where the second left off, with defensive dominance for both teams and punts being exchanged. The game started to come to life in the fourth, with the Bulls’ O gaining some momentum from the backfield duo of veteran Paul Duncan and up first year runner Jason Prince. The second half deadlock was finally broken when Stuart ‘McFly’ Ennis found stand out receiver Nick ‘Spiderman’ Burt in the endzone on a broken play. East Kilbride stepped to block the point after.

Chasing the game East Kilbride’s offence looked to the air. With the Bulls’ secondary getting good coverage the Pirates’ QB Ross Templeton started to scramble when Bulls’ veteran LB and head coach Chris Cunnane stepped up with a sledgehammer hit to knock the ball loose and Bulls’ D Tackle Keita Rose was on hand to scoop up the ball. The Bulls’ O could only manage three and out and East Kilbride had a final shot at getting back into the ball game. Going to the air again the QB Ross Templeton looked to go deep, but Bulls’ Safety Brendan Cunnane was on hand to pick the pass off and end the game.

Speaking after the game Bulls Head Coach Chris Cunnane said “It was not a classic performance, but we achieved our goal of a one in the win column. It will take some hard work this week to be ready to face a much improved Gateshead side.” Talking about his block below the waist after the Paul Summers pick, safety Ed Winter commented “I’ve been playing for 12 years and I never knew you couldn’t cut after an interception, all those yellow flags suddenly seem to make sense now. Now I know why the ref wouldn’t listen when I said it wasn’t in the back.” The Bulls travel to Gateshead next week looking to avenge last years 0-0 scoreline.