8:49am Wednesday 17th February 2010
An Aaron Davies hat-trick was the only high point as a severely-depleted Blackburn Hawks suffered their heaviest defeat of the season.
Hawks had several senior players missing for the trip to second-placed Whitley Warriors, who eased to an 11-3 win.
“With first liners Chris Arnone and David Meikle still out injured and Rick Bentham suspended, an already challenging match became very much an uphill struggle,” said head coach Gary Buckman.
The tone was set when the in-form Warriors opened the scoring with a two-man challenge just 49 seconds in and they capitalised again, passing in from behind the net with just three minutes on the clock.
True to their reputation, Hawks regrouped and started picking up the play, but they struggled to breach the Whitley Bay defence and the home side extended their lead with two more goals before the break.
Hawks were much more organised after the interval, but again they failed to find a way past netminder James Flavell. The Warriors capitalised, scoring three times in quick succession, before Hawks found a reply, with Matt Viney setting up Davies at the other end.
The two teams traded goals once more, and with Nick Saxton taking over from Daniel Brittle in net, Hawks finally found their feet and kept Whitley at bay.
The final period saw plenty of spirit from the visitors, but they were unable to prevent three more goals from Whitley, before Blackburn had the last word, as Davies completed his hat-trick two minutes from time to earn a well deserved man-of-the-match award.
“Of course I’m disappointed with the result, but with a short bench and a number of first line players missing, we could not expect to win against this kind of opposition,” added Buck-man.
“I can’t fault the lads for effort and commitment, so it’s one of those games you just have to put behind you.
“We’ll regroup and hopefully return to form to take points from Kingston and Telford next weekend.”
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