Whitley Warriors travelled down to Blackburn on Saturday evening for a NIHL North Division 1 match up. Warriors were able to include both Daniel Pye and Scott Cooper in their line up after both players successfully made their comebacks from injuries against the Manchester Minotaurs last weekend. Whitley were still without a number of senior players though as Jamie Tinsley, Daniel Harris and Paul Matthews were all out of action due to injuries.
Prior to the match getting underway a minutes silence and then a minutes applause were held in memory of Blackburn general manager Alan Amos who sadly passed away recently.
Once the action got underway Hawks were quickly into their stride and they took the lead after 61 seconds when Adam Brittle fired home with his brother Luke Brittle picking up the assist. Warriors were not behind for long though as Martin Crammond finished off a lovely Whitley move orchestrated by stand in captain Adam Reynolds under 2 minutes later. As the period progressed the home side were creating numerous offensive opportunities and by the end of the 1st session of play Hawks held a 4-1 lead thanks to a Luke Brittle hatrick.
Hawks started the 2nd period positively and made it 5-1 just 22 seconds in when the league’s top scorer Luke Brittle got his 4th goal of the contest. Warriors got a goal back after 22 minutes of play when Dean Holland fired home high into the net after being nicely set up by DJ Good. Whitley continued to trouble the Hawks defence and under 40 seconds later DJ Good and Dean Holland combined once more to make it 5-3 with DJ Good finding the back of the net with a sweet strike.
Whitley were now having their best spell of the game and Hawks netminder Stuart Ashton looked a little rattled however unfortunately an untrue bounce off the boards saw Adam Brittle pick up the puck in space and Hawks number 26 coolly took advantage of the situation and slotted home past Warriors netminder Richie Lawson.
Hawks extended their lead to 7-3 towards the end of the middle stanza when Luke Brittle grabbed his 5th goal of the game after he was set up by Adam Brittle and Chris Arnone. Both teams then ran into penalty trouble with a number of minor penalties being issued alongside a rare misconduct penalty to Warriors forward Adam Reynolds.
The final period saw Blackburn net 2 more goals through Arnone and Lomax before Kyle Ross grabbed a late consolation goal for Warriors which saw the game end 9-4 in the home sides favour. As the final buzzer sounded Callum Watson and Hawks Tom King exchange blows both players are given penalties 2 plus 2 roughing penalties by referee Pering.
Whitley blue liner Rob Wilson picked up Warriors man of the match while Hawks in form marksman Luke Brittle was chosen as the home sides best player.
Whitley are next in action on Sunday (February 8th face off 5pm) when the Sutton Sting visit Hillheads for a NIHL North match which should be a game of high intensity given both sides are fighting it out for a end of season play off berth.