SHARKS BEAT BLACKBURN 4-3 TO PROGRESS TO NORTHERN CUP FINAL The Solway Sharks dug deep and pulled out an excellent performance just when it was needed to beat Blackburn Hawks four-three at the Shark Tank on Saturday evening. The result means that the Sharks now progress to meet Sutton Sting in the two-legged Northern Cup Final. After falling behind early in recent games the Solway supporters must have breathed a sigh of relief when Pavol Melichercik (02:24) drilled home the opening goal on Saturday evening. However, they joy was to be short-lived as Aaron Davies (04:10) leveled the scores with a powerplay goal two minutes later. The Sharks regrouped and took a two goal lead when Ross Murray (Pictured 14:37) and Iain Bowie (15:01) found the net within thirty seconds of each other. Blackburn were never going to take this lying down and Adam Brittle (18:57) reduced the deficit to one shortly before the first interval. Solway were first to show in the second period and regained their two goal advantage when Stevie Moore (22:55) pounced on the rebound to score after Daniel Brittle had done well to save from Ross Murray. The second period saw play flow constantly from end to end as neither team could lay claim to dominance or territorial advantage for any length of time. It looked like the Sharks would take a two goal advantage into the second break until Chris Arnone did well to commit the Sharks keeper and defence before threading a pass to the back post for Aaron Davies (39:06) to score his second goal of the game. The final session continued in much the same vein as the previous one had ended, with both teams defending resolutely and breaking forward with pace and skill when the opportunity presented itself. The only reason that the scorers werent troubled during this twenty minutes was down to the excellent performances of netminders Kieran Hobbins for the Sharks and Daniel Brittle for the Hawks. After the match Blackburn were presented with their NIHL Moralee Conference runner-up medals and the Sharks with their winners medals and league trophy from the NIHLs Geoff Hemmerman.
Posted on: Sun, 23 Mar 2014 11:23:00 +0000