BLACKBURN Hawks moved into second place in the English National League with a crushing 10-1 defeat of Sunderland Chiefs at the Arena.

Flintshire Freeze have the same number of points and three games in hand, but the Hawks are happy to be flying high.

Player-coach Bobby Haig, said: "Sunderland had a weakened team, but we can't worry about that.

"It was a bit one-sided throughout, though we are delighted with another two points towards the play-offs."

The Hawks were without goalminder Colin Downie, now based in Scotland, the injured David Sheffield and Craig Sharman, who has retired, but it didn't matter.

Their fire-power was far too much for the Chiefs as the 45-10 shots on goal tally relates.

The hosts led 2-0 at the end of the first session, thanks to goals from Peter Tapp and Haig.

In the second, they hit a further five without reply, Matt Southall, Adam Leaver, David Meikle, Lance Derbyshire and Haig again were the scorers.

Wes Barnett and Adam Fuller moved the score on to 9-0 , before David Michie hit a consolation goal in the 48th minute.

Almost inevitably, Haig had the last word. Chris Black and Neal Haworth played him in to notch the Hawks' tenth and complete a personal hat-trick.

The canny Scot continues to head the Northern section's goal-scoring charts, with 24 goals in 14 games.

Next Sunday, the Hawks face a much stiffer challenge when league leaders Sheffield Scimitars provide the opposition at the Arena in the latest group

match in the English National League Cup.

BLACKBURN HAWKS...10

SUNDERLAND CHIEFS...1