Blackburn Hawks are missing a quartet of stars as they take on Paisley Pirates tomorrow in a face-to-face clash with a former ally.

The local ice hockey aces will be without brothers Jackson and Harry Hall for the trip up to Scotland, as well as key men Michael Brunton and Anthony Kinder.

Hawks are yet to get any points on the board in the Northern League cup competition, but general manager Graham Lomax is quietly confident that his side can end their disappointing run against a side boasting a ex-Arena favourite in Bobby Haig.

"It will be nice to see Bob again," said Lomax. "He teamed up with Paisley a few months ago in a playing and coaching capacity, but I think he is struggling tonight due to injury.

"We have several players unavailable for the game. Harry Hall has had an operation and could be out for up to a month, while Jackson (Hall), Michael (Brunton) and Anthony (Kinder) have other commitments. Thankfully, we do have plenty of strength in depth.

"There is a second string side playing out of the Arena too, so we can always call on players from that team if need be.

"However, we are still optimistic that we can get a positive result against Paisley. They are a very good Premier League team up in Scotland, but we are certainly not going up there to make up numbers."