ENL North round-up week 24

BLACKBURN, UK – Whitley Warriors have moved to within two points of Billingham Stars at the top of ENL1 North. The reigning champions disposed of Trafford Metros on Sunday, to set up a mouth-watering clash with the Stars at Hillheads this weekend. Callum Watson’s first minute strike sent Warriors on their way, though they had to wait until midway through the second period before doubling their lead through Dean Holland. Jamie Rogerson made it 2-1 after 33 minutes,

but three quick goals early in the third from Holland, Harry Harley and Jordan Barnes put the game beyond the visitors. Metros’ Sean Day made it 5-2 just before the end but Warriors comfortably eased home. Blackburn Hawks are a point further back in third after a pair of impressive road wins. They travelled to relegation threatened Coventry Blaze on Saturday and raced into a 4-0 lead by the end of the second – Sami Narkia and Rick Hughes both scored twice. Blaze fought back in the third as Aiden Mahmud, Josh Nicklin and Rhys McWilliams closed the gap to one, but Narkia’s third of the night secured the points for the Hawks.   The following evening they faced lowly Solihull Barons at Hobs Moat Road and moved ahead in the 7th minute as Dave Meikle set up Jordan Bannon for the opener. The same pair combined moments later to make it 2-0, before Meikle added a third midway through the game. Hawks sat back in the third, but Barons failed to find a way through and the visitors held on to seal a four-point weekend. Sheffield Spartans moved five points clear of the relegation zone with a couple of solid away performances. Saturday’s seesaw battle at Trafford saw Spartans grab a deserved 4-4 and they followed up on Sunday with a 5-3 win at Nottingham Lions – Nick Manning grabbed a couple for Spartans. Sutton Sting appear strong favourites to finish runners-up in ENL2 after beating Lancashire Raptors 22-1. Fellow promotion chasers Flintshire Freeze crashed 3-1 at Hull Stingrays leaving Sting in pole position to reach the promotion/relegation play-off. Their opponents are likely to be either Coventry or Nottingham. Hull also won 9-2 against the Raptors while Bradford Bulldogs triumphed by the same scoreline against Fylde Flyers. With the top two set to do battle this coming weekend, Blackburn will look to keep up the pressure at home to Telford Titans. In ENL2, Sutton could end Flintshire’s promotion hopes with a win at Deeside Ice Rink. Contact the author at: michael.black@prohockeynews.com