DEESIDE DRAGONS earned themselves a convincing win against Blackburn Hawks 2 to bounce back from last week’s disappointing loss to Bradford.

The result sees the Flintshire club rise to sixth in the table, leapfrogging Coventry Blaze who fell to a narrow 3-2 home defeat to the runaway Laidler Conference leaders, Widnes Wild.

After condemning Blackburn Hawks to their twenty first consecutive league defeat, Dragons player-coach, Marc Lovell, is relieved that his side showed no signs of complacency against their visitors.

He said: “We played really well. No disrespect to them (Blackburn), but they’re not the best team in the league, and sometimes when you play teams like that you seem to struggle or drop down to their level.

“We got the ball rolling pretty quick to be honest. It was nice to be in control of that whole game and to try working on a few things.

“We started well, then had a little blip at the beginning of the third period where we conceded two goals, but we had most of the game from start to finish, which was really pleasing.

“Our side spread the scoring out. It wasn’t just one player or one line, but it was the whole team, and that’s what we need out there.

“There were a few different goalscorers which was nice, especially because young Billy Perks got his first senior goal, as did Louie Bailey, so it was nice to get them ice time and a goal from it too.”

Captain, James Parsons, fired his side ahead in the fourth minute before James Shaw doubled the Dragons’ lead after an assist from his coach, Marc Lovell.

Lovell was then on hand to set up Alex Parry before Matthew Wainwright scored to put his side into a commanding 4-0 lead by the end of the first period.

The experienced trio of Parsons, Wainwright, and Simon Furnival each scored in the second period to seemingly put the game beyond Blackburn.

Joe Charlton replied for the visitors just seconds into the third period to give the northern side a glimmer of hope, but Billy Perks scored his first senior goal to extinguish any thoughts of a comeback.

Blackburn’s Gareth Fogarty put the puck beyond Dominic Jolly to make it 8-2 before a late Dragons blitz put extra gloss on the result.

Parsons, Wainwright, and Shaw each scored again, and were joined on the scoresheet by Michael Clancy, and Louie Bailey – who also fired in his first senior goal.

Despite being a fantastic opportunity for Marc Lovell to reach his century of goals, the player-coach remains rooted agonisingly close on 98.

When asked about it, he said: “It could have been, but I didn’t take it!”

Elsewhere, Telford Tigers were shocked at home against a ruthless Hull Jets side who ran out 6-1 winners in Shropshire.

The result means that Hull have leapfrogged their opponents in the Laidler Conference, finding themselves just two points behind second-placed Sheffield Senators.

Coventry Blaze visit Hull on Saturday, while Bradford Bulldogs head to Telford, before the Dragons host Altrincham Aces a day later.