A FIRST-period horror show by the lacklustre Hawks' defence gifted the visitors a three-goal start within the opening six minutes, from which they never fully recovered.
Missing several of their star players, against a strong Billingham line-up, the home team went behind after only 22 seconds, and were caught out twice more as they strived for a foothold in the game. Eventually, the Hawks' pressure told, as Aaron Davies was able to shoot home from close range, to reduce the deficit..
The interval served as a wake-up call for the Hawks. The game flowed from end to end, with both keepers constantly being called into action. However, it was the home team who created more of the goalscoring opportunities, although beating the Bombers netminder was proving difficult.
advertisement
The third period started in a similar vein, and a delayed penalty call against the visitors gave Blackburn a man advantage.
Concerted pressure was put on the Billingham defence, who struggled to clear their zone, which allowed space for Chris Arnone to whistle a slapshot from the blue line, past the keeper.
The Hawks turned up the heat in search of an equaliser, but were consequently undone by a short-handed breakaway goal, as the Bombers once again restored their two-goal advantage with 12 minutes remaining.
Three minutes later, however, and the determined Hawks set up a grand stand finale, as David Miekle controlled a shot from the point, before spinning full circle, and slamming home the Hawks third.
Shots continued to fly in on the Bombers netminder, who performed heroics, as he attempted to deny the Hawks forwards, and with the clock running down, Blackburn opted to sacrifice their goalie, Danny Brittle, in favour of an extra forward. But with only 12 seconds to go, the visitors were able to steer it into an unguarded net.
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
Print
Email this
Comment
