Blackburn Hawks narrowly missed out on a place in the English National League North play-off final after suffering a 6-2 defeat at Whitley Warriors.

Hawks headed to the North East holding a 4-2 first leg lead, following a superb performance at the Blackburn Arena seven days earlier.

And they looked like causing a major upset when they extended their aggregate lead to 6-3 at the end of the first.

However, Whitley showed their quality, as they scored five goals without reply to secure the win.

Despite the defeat, head coach Jared Owen believes his side are moving in the right direction, after proving to be more than a match for the current league champions.

He said: “We are gutted to lose the game, but my team have made excellent progress and in the end we took Whitley all the way and came very close to going through.

“We’ve had a topsy-turvy season, but have produced the goods over the last few months in this league and beaten some quality teams above us.

“We also became the first team to beat Whitley this season in that fantastic 4-2 win from the first leg.”

“I am very proud of my team for skating hard and getting to this stage and now we just have to try and push on.”

This was player-coach Owen’s first season in charge of Hawks and he feels he has settled in well.

“The lads have been good to me this season and are very positive,” he added.

“They are prepared to work hard and listen to new ideas. It’s been a great first season.”