BLACKBURN Hawks went looking for some Christmas cheer from Kingston last night, but found their east coast namesakes sadly lacking in festive spirit.

Hawks took just 11 senior players to Hull for the Christmas Cup clash, youngsters Robbie Smith, Wesley Barnet and Chris Colclough making up the numbers -- and boy, did they feel the burn.

Hawks crashed to a whopping 12-0 defeat as the quality of the higher league side ran rings around a tired Hawks outfit, with almost three times as many shots on goal.

"We only had two lines to work with and by the second period we were starting to flag," said Hawks administrator John Neville. "It's always a good test to play against a team in a higher league, but without a full squad the exercise is fruitless."

Hot shot hitman Andrew Dickson is making progress on the comeback trail, and is back in training at the Arena, and both Kevin Docherty and Tim Dempsey could also be in line to make a return.

Hawks travel to Wightlink IOW on Saturday and entertain Milton Keynes in the Arena on Sunday (face off 6pm).

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