Nottingham Lions 3

Blackburn Hawks 5

BLACKBURN Hawks completed a Midland Cup double over Nottingham Lions as they secured a morale boosting victory.

Having suffered a double defeat last weekend - including a 12-2 league loss against Solway Sharks - the Hawks sealed a third victory in seven outings in the cup.

A short-benched Hawks travelled to Nottingham with Latvian Niks Trapans between the pipes while young Harrison Walker was an outskater following his dynamic scoring displays while playing for the Bradford Bulldogs.

The game started pretty evenly with great attacking and defensive play from both sides but it was the Hawks who broke the deadlock when Sean Jones’ shot was spilt by Jamie Hovell in the Lions goal and Tom Revesz was in the right place at the right time to slot the rebound home in the 10th minute.

That lead was doubled in the second quarter with 21 minutes 14 seconds on the clock when Lee Pollitt scored the first of his two goals after good work from player/coach James Neil and Cade King.

But the two-goal lead didn’t last too long as the Lions pulled one back immediately thanks to a deflected effort from Michael Berehowskyj. Spurred on by the goal, the home team were looking more dangerous and were on level terms just before the 24 minute mark when Bailey Challans slotted the puck between Trapans’ pad and the post.

Hawks hit back and upped the tempo and in the 29th minute regained the lead when Pollitt scrambled the puck home.

And 40 seconds later, they restored their two-goal advantage when Jack Murray’s shot from the blue line was in the direction of Corey Lee who got a piece of it with the tip-in enough to beat Hovell.

This time Hawks were not going to let their lead slip and they grabbed a fifth in the 33rd minute when Aaron Davies cut in from the right, waited for Hovell to drop to the ice before cleverly lifting the puck over the net minder to open up a 5-2 lead at the end of the second period.

In the final period the Hawks continued to attack but Hovell remained strong and the Lions netminder did well to deny Jack Murray following his surge beyond two players and shot.

Pollitt went close to completing his hat-trick but his effort pinged the post before Hovell saved on the line.

With just two and half minutes remaining, the Lions pulled one back with Harry Hopkins’ strike going in off Trapans’ pads, but it didn’t alter the final outcome.