BLACKBURN Hawks’ new head coach Neil Abel tasted victory for the first since he replaced Wayne Slater in the hot-seat thanks to stunning back-to-back wins over Newcastle Vipers.

After a miserable sequence of 11 straight defeats, the Hawks breathed new life into their season with two quick-fire victories over the Vipers, which lifted them off the foot of the English National League Division One table.

On Saturday, the Hawks travelled to Newcastle for an early face-off and a committed team performance set the tone for what turned out to be a perfect weekend. The Vipers found themselves on the back foot from the start and an early goal from Rick Bentham, who was expertly teed-up by David Meikle, gave the Hawks a platform on which to build.

Man-of-the-match Bentham went on to complete a hat-trick and further strikes from Adam Leaver, Karl Downey and Meikle saw the Hawks cruise to a convincing 6-0 victory.

Buoyed by that result, the Hawks then served up a repeat performance in the return leg 24 hours later, crushing the Vipers once again on their way to recording a first home win of the season.

Still buzzing from their display in the North East the previous day, the Hawks tore into the visitors from the off, finally breaking the deadlock courtesy of Wayne Slater’s fine finish.

The second period saw the Vipers take a penalty, from which the home side were able to double their advantage, with the irrepressible Bentham teeing up Sam Dunford for a tap-in.

Minutes later, the visitors were handed a five minute power-play opportunity, but as they pressed, new signing Les Millie picked up the puck in the opposing zone and shot, with Meikle was on hand to fire home the rebound.

The third period saw the Hawks find top gear against a tiring Vipers defence.

And a four-on-three power-play culminated in Tim Mackay scoring from an acute angle.

With five minutes to go, Hawks keeper Matthew Michie was finally beaten from close range, thus denying him a second consecutive shut-out.

However, it was Hawks who had the last laugh, with Slater grabbing his second goal of the game following a driving run from Aaron Davies to complete a 5-1 win.

The man of the match award went to Michie, who had two inspired games over the weekend, allowing only one goal to be scored.