Blackburn Hawks suffered two narrow defeats at the weekend despite a couple of impressive performances.

Hawks took the lead in their Northern League Cup tie against Scottish stars Fife Flyers on Saturday before eventually going down 3-1.

Then they were robbed of a point the following night when a late strike sealed a 4-3 victory for Nottingham Lions in an English National Ice Hockey League encounter.

General manager Graham Lomax managed to take many positive from the games, especially the display against Fife.

"We were really good against Fife," insisted Lomax. "They are one of the top teams around and certainly the most difficult opposition we are likely to play against over the season. So to take the lead and give them a real run for their money was an excellent effort.

"We started slowly against Nottingham on Sunday and gave away three early goals, but we got ourselves back into it and were unlucky to lose it at the end.

"The results were not ideal, but we were up against two top teams so we cannot be too down-hearted."

Harry Hall gave the local stars an unlikely lead against Scottish champions Fife at the Arena, but in spite of the heroics of netminder Danny Brittle, Hawks were subjected to an narrow defeat.

Further disappointment was in store just 24 hours later against Nottingham when, after coming from three goals down to draw level thanks to strikes by Chris Arnone, Dave Meikle and MVP Chad Briggs, they conceded a late winner.