Blackburn Hawks clawed their way closer to title success on two fronts, after dramatic victories against Whitley Warriors and Kingston Jets at the weekend.

The Hawks twice overturned a two-goal deficit to defeat the Warriors 7-5 in the English Cup on Saturday, before wrapping up the points in a frantic final minute on their visit to Hull in the English National Ice Hockey League.

Assistant manager Graham Lomax said: "We've got the Scottish Crossover Cup this weekend and although it would be nice to go up there and win, we know where our priorities lie this season.

"We are going well in both competitions and so they were two big results for us at the weekend.

"We have never qualified for the cup in our history, but we're sitting pretty at the top of the table having won five of our six games played.

"But the league is our main priority and although the Kingston game wasn't quite the classic we had against Whitley, at this stage in the season, a win's a win!"

In the Hawks' opening weekend fixture, a relatively uneventful first period ended with Whitley leading 1-0 thanks to Shaun Kiffin's fifth-minute strike.

But the game came to life after the restart in a seven-goal second period. Bryan Dunne extended the visitors' lead, before Adam Fuller pulled one back for the home side.

Kiffin extended the Warriors advantage to 3-1 with his second of the evening, before goals from Peter Tapp, Michael Brunton and Bob Chalmers gave Blackburn the lead. But just when the Hawks appeared to be in control, Ben Campbell found the back of the net with just seconds remaining to level things up at 4-4.

Again the Hawks responded, with Chalmers and Wayne Slater setting up goals for both Neal Haworth and Aaron Davies, before Chalmers added his second and Blackburn's seventh.

Andrew Tindale pulled one back for Whitley, but it was too little too late for the visiting team: "We came from behind and had to show a lot of character and resilience to get the job done," added Lomax.

A depleted Blackburn side then travelled to Kingston without the services of the injured Peter Tapp and under-19 defensive duo Ollie Lomax and Craig Rogers, but an Aaron Davies hat-trick helped the Hawks to a 5-2 win.

As the game approached its conclusion, the scores were tied at 2-2, but three goals in the final 90 seconds handed the Hawks some valuable league points and a third straight win.