ENL North round-up week 26

BLACKBURN, UK – Billingham Stars edged closer to claiming the ENL1 North title with a comfortable success over Sheffield Spartans on Sunday. Ollie Barron’s 1st minute strike for Spartans shocked the sizeable home crowd, but Stars roared back to take the lead by the end of the first with goals from James Moss and Andy Fletcher. Andy Finn made it 3-1 midway through the game, but Sheffield hit back to level things up – Nick Manning and Joe Millard got the goals. Andy Robinson made it 4-3 to Stars after 36 minutes and Fletcher’s second of the night restored the two goal cushion

just before the second buzzer. Robinson and Finn added further goals in the third to send Stars three points clear of Whitley Warriors with just three games to go. Third placed Blackburn Hawks are just a point further back after a 3-0 win at Nottingham Lions. Rick Hughes put the visitors in front with a penalty shot after 25 minutes and Chris Arnone doubled the lead soon after. Player/coach Jared Owen made it 3-0 late in the third to keep Hawks’ faint title hopes alive. Telford Titans joined Stars, Warriors and Hawks in the end of season play-offs after a three-point weekend. Karol Jets scored twice in a 2-2 draw at Coventry on Saturday – Tom Ledgard bagged a brace for Blaze – to claim the point they needed and they followed up with an impressive 6-3 success over Trafford Metros. ENL2 North champions Solway Sharks made it 25 wins out of 25 with a resounding 10-0 win at home to Flintshire Freeze. Nathan Salem (4) and Adam Reynolds (3) led the scoring for Solway, who are now just six goals short of 300 for the season. Sutton Sting secured second place and a promotion play-off game against either Nottingham or Coventry with a 4-0 win at home to Bradford Bulldogs. Flintshire’s promotion hopes were finally ended after they slumped to a 4-2 defeat at home to Hull Stingrays. Sheffield Senators enjoyed a successful road trip over the Pennines with an 11-4 win at Fylde Flyers and a 7-2 victory over Lancashire Raptors. This weekend sees the top three in ENL1 all facing difficult road trips. Billingham travel to Yorkshire to face Sheffield Spartans, Whitley are at Trafford while Blackburn meet Coventry. Contact the author at: Michael.Black@prohockeynews.com