Blackburn Hawks 4 Murrayfield 4; Castlereagh 6 Blackburn Hawks 14

THE bleary-eyed Hawks docked back in the early hours of this morning after coasting to their most impressive victory of the season.

It was plain sailing for Jim Pennycook's side who showed no sign of travel lag despite a punishing round-the-clock schedule.

"We adapted well to very difficult conditions and were well worth our victory," said manager Mike Cockayne on returning from the clash with Northern Ireland outfit Castlereagh Knights.

"We spent 10 hours on the coach and four hours on the ferry which is hardly ideal, but the performance underlined the commitment within our squad.

"No-one ducked out of their responsibilities and it was good to get back on the victory trail after recent disappointments."

Individual honours went the way of teenage starlet Tom Burridge who helped himself to four goals - a hat-trick within the space of period two which Hawks won 3-8 and played "our best hockey of the season so far" according to the manager. "Tom's performance and goals were most satisfying and will do him a power of good. We played really well in the second period to stitch the game up."

Hawks "roared on" by a travelling support of SIX, took the first period 1-4, the second 3-8 and shared the spoils in the third 2-2. Scoresheet: Lee Colclough 0+1, Neil Abel 2+1, Simon Mills 0+2, Ismo Rokala 3+1, Patrik Ferlander 2+2, Johan Goransson 3+2, Tom Burridge 4+0, Bobby Haig 0+1, Billy Prince 0+1, Richard Charles 0+2.

On Saturday at the Arena Hawks found themselves three goals down inside the first four minutes.

"It was astonishing," admitted Mr. Cockayne. "But we recovered well and were a little unlucky not to win."

Hawks lost the first period 1-3, won the second 1-0 and took the third 2-1.

Scoresheet: Jim Pennycook 0+3, Ismo Rokala 2+1, Patrik Ferlander 2+0, Johan Goransson 0+1.

At the close the referee took the strange step of demanding a penalty shoot-out which Hawks lost 1-4.

But Mr Cockayne added: "The referee acted outside the rule of the Northern Premier League and as far as we are concerned that game will stand as a draw.

"We will be in touch with the league today to put our case, but we expect to be awarded a point."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.