BLACKBURN Hawks crashed to defeat on a night of frustration in their opening English Cup encounter with Sheffield Spartans.

The local ice hockey aces put in an uncharacteristic poor display on Saturday night in a competition the management had highlighted as a priority this season.

General manager Graham Lomax admitted he was disappointed with his team in the 5-3 defeat.

"It was probably our worst showing of the term," conceded Lomax. "I think we went in to the game too confident and that was our downfall.

"It is not the end of the world, but we cannot afford to get complacent like that again.

Hawks were also thwarted by several dubious decisions - much to the frustration of Lomax.

"There was no flow to the game. Every two seconds the referee would blow up for something.

"It does get frustrating when the game is so stop-start and the tempo is broken up with silly decisions."

Sunday was no more fruitful for Hawks as they slipped to their ninth defeat from the last 10 games.

Dundee Stars emerged triumphant against Hawks for the second time this season in an 8-3 Northern League Cup victory.

"We played okay, but Dundee are a top side. We have a very young side and that showed against their experienced team. They were very physical and bullied us off the ice."

To rub salt in the wounds, Hawks picked up several injuries to key players. New signing Michel Loksa received a blow to the eye while Aaron Davies injured his shoulder. However, both are hopeful of featuring at the weekend.

Craig Rogers slashed his thumb and awaits a test to confirm the extent of the damage.