LANCASHIRE, UK – Hull Pirates moved within three points of Moralee D1 leaders Sheffield Steeldogs after picking up four points over the weekend.
Matty Davies’ late goal sealed a 4-3 home win over Whitley Warriors, while Jason Hewitt’s overtime strike secured a victory by the same scoreline in the reverse fixture.
Telford Tigers’ title hopes suffered a blow as they lost 3-2 at Solihull Barons – Marcus Maynard, Andrew Whitehouse and Matthew Maurice scored for the home side.
Duncan Speirs (3) led the way for Solway Sharks in their 9-2 home victory over Blackburn Hawks. The Lancashire outfit bounced back with a 7-2 win at home to Nottingham Lions.
Deniss Baskatovs (4) and Chris Sykes (4) were amongst the scorers as Billingham Stars eased to a 14-0 home win against Deeside Dragons.
In the NIHL National Cup, Telford are in pole position to reach the last four after winning 5-2 at Streatham IHC in the first leg of their quarter-final tie.
Sheffield completed their group stage fixtures with an 8-3 home win against Hull.
Widnes Wild are still top of Laidler D2 after recording a 5-1 victory at Hull Jets – Nick Manning (3) topped the scoring.
Hull had better luck at Bradford Bulldogs the previous day, securing a 7-6 shoot-out success – Richard Haggar bagged the decider.
Altrincham Aces enjoyed a four point weekend courtesy of 6-3 wins against Blackburn Hawks 2 and Coventry Blaze NIHL.
Telford Tigers 2 won 4-3 after overtime against Sutton Sting and followed up with an 11-2 victory at Deeside Dragons 2 – James Smith scored five against the North Wales side.
Sheffield Senators won twice on home ice, beating Deeside 10-4 and Bradford Bulldogs 3-2.
PHN’s top two talking points
Voided game makes a mockery of the cup
The decision to declare the National Cup fixture between Peterborough Phantoms and Hull Pirates as void because the two clubs were unable to agree a date makes a mockery of the competition.
Both sides appear to be pointing the finger at the other, but whatever the rights and wrongs of the issue this game should have been played.
The simple solution would have been to expel both clubs from the competition if a date wasn’t sorted – an agreement would have been found pretty quickly with that threat hanging over them.
Solway sneaking under the radar
Reigning D1 champions Solway have been quietly going on about their business this season, with the introduction of the EPL clubs to the league helping them go under the radar a little.
Saturday’s 9-2 victory over Blackburn was their sixth win from their last seven league games and makes them big favourites to finish as the best placed team form the ‘original’ NIHL clubs.
Solway have performed with credit against the former EPL sides and they could be could prove to be a handful in the two-legged play-off games at the end of the regular season.
WEEKEND RESULTS
Moralee D1
Hull Pirates 4-3 Whitley Warriors
Solihull Barons 3-2 Telford Tigers
Solway Sharks 9-2 Blackburn Hawks
Billingham Stars 14-0 Deeside Dragons
Blackburn Hawks 7-2 Nottingham Lions
Whitley Warriors 3-4 Hull Pirates (OT)
Laidler D2
Altrincham Aces 6-3 Coventry Blaze NIHL
Blackburn Hawks 2 3-6 Altrincham Aces
Bradford Bulldogs 6-7 Hull Jets (SO)
Deeside Dragons 2 2-11 Telford Tigers 2
Hull Jets 1-5 Widnes Wild
Sheffield Senators 3-2 Bradford Bulldogs
Sheffield Senators 10-4 Deeside Dragons 2
Telford Tigers 2 4-3 Sutton Sting (OT)
NIHL National Cup
Sheffield Steeldogs 8-3 Hull Pirates
Streatham IHC 2-5 Telford Tigers
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