Hawks 8 Murrayfield Royals 5

Hawks 6 Fife Flyers 7

HAWKS came within an ace of producing one of ice hockey's biggest upsets last night.l+2l-2The local lads were ahead through Bidner before the Scottish stars took control with four quick replies only for Ismo Rokala to reduce the arrears before the end of period one. A sensational strike by Bidner gave Hawks a 1-0 advantage in period two to set things up for a pulsating finale.

The final 20 minutes - it took more than three quarters of an hour - had just about everything you could wish for in an ice hockey showdown.

We even had play held up for too much water on the ice...not to mention Bobby Haig being stretchered off, John Haig being sent off and some play and goals of the highest quality.

Hawks dragged it back from 4-6 to 6-6 thanks to two superbly executed efforts from Patrik Ferlander and the crowd was at fever pitch.

Hawks failed to make the most of a power play and were finally undone by a truly magnificent goal from Parent who seemed to glide past three challenges with just one turn of the pace.

Give the punters games like this and a 3,000 seater Arena won't be big enough.

Played well, is there a more exciting team game? Scoresheet: Todd Bidner 3+3, Ismo Rokala 1+2, Patrik Ferlander 2+2, Neil Abel 0+1, Simon Mills 0+1, Bobby Haig 0+1.

On Saturday the stakes weren't as high or the passions as frantic, but the result was better.

It hadn't looked too promising early on with the lowly Royals running into a 1-3 lead, but Hawks were far too powerful over the longer period and victory was a just reward.

Another impressive display from Bidner (2+2) and, summing up the weekend, manager Mike Cockayne said: "We have picked up a couple of points, but we could have had more.

"We have got to be happy with the sort of show we put on against Fife. It showed everyone that we are very very close to becoming a formidable side.

"The supporters were magnificent and that was as good a spectacle as we have seen this season."

Scoresheet: Neil Abel 1+0, Simon Mills 1+1,. Ismo Rokala 2+0, Patrik Ferlander 2+0, Bobby Haig 0+1, Todd Bidner 2+2, Richard Charles 0+2.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.