COACH Graham Lomax is taking nothing for granted as Blackburn Hawks travel to tackle bottom-of-the-table Solihull Barons in the English National Ice Hockey League tomorrow night.

He has warned his troop to be ‘on guard’ saying: “The Barons are rock bottom of the league and have been cut adrift from everyone else, but that will count for nothing.

“They were promoted last season and have found the going difficult but it won’t be easy for us.

“Saying that, we are looking to go there and take the full points. We have a lot of games in hand to catch up on and if we can string a few wins together we could push us towards the top three.”

Tonight, Hawks turn their focus to the Northern Cup and a home date with Whitley Warriors at Blackburn Arena (face-off 5.45pm).

The coach is expected a bruising encounter.

“Whitley are a tough side and it is likely to be physical but we can cope with that.

“They have improved recently, particularly following the signing of netminder Ritchie Lawson, but I’m pretty confident.

“We always fancy our chances against anyone at the Arena although our home form has not been so strong of late.

“We’ve got three or four trialists with us to bring more depth to our squad and get a few lads looking over their shoulders at the competition.

“That can only be good.”