BLACKBURN Hawks beat ice hockey rivals Billingham Bombers in a tense penalty shoot-out at the Arena to open their Northern League cup campaign with a superb victory.

The closely-fought encounter ended at 5-5, but Hawks, inspired by two-goal player-coach Bobby Haig, nicked it with a 4-2 success on penalties.

General manager Graham Lomax was pleased with the weekend's results, which also included included a 4-4 away draw with Bradford in the English National Ice Hockey League on Sunday.

"On the whole they were two good results for us," said Lomax. "Both were very close, exciting games. The home fans were great again, we are really giving them something to cheer about at the moment.

"To go to penalties with Billingham was very tense for everyone, but to beat last year's league champions really showed how far we have come.

"A draw was probably a fair result against Bradford. They have improved so much recently and are certainly a harder side to play against."

Haig netted twice in the triumph over the Bombers, followed by strikes from Anthony Kinder, Aaron Davies and Michael Brunton.

Lance Derbyshire opened the scoring for Hawks against Bradford, while another double for Haig and one from David Meikle secured the draw