The third instalment of this season’s War of the Roses brought another Yorkshire invasion to the Nest, as the Leeds Knights II arrived in Lancashire looking to upset the league leaders.

However, with Blackburn flying high at the peak of NIHL1 North, the Hawks were in no mood to surrender their home advantage, delivering a twelve-goal masterclass to continue their remarkable title charge.

The hosts could hardly have made a faster start.

A Finnish Flash saw Elmeri Hallfors find the first goal in just 18 seconds.

It was a welcome return to the Hawks’ trademark fast starts from last season, and the early onslaught was far from over.

Matty Cross doubled the advantage before the four-minute mark, with the defensive-minded youngster showing an attacking instinct that would prove a sign of things to come.

The Hawks kept clawing away at Harrison McCourt in the Knights net, with the next attacker to breach being Garry Simpson.

The Super Scot snapped a shot and is certainly showing he has settled back in Blackburn after his sudden exit at the start of last season.

A solid starting period for the home side was dampened ever so slightly as Ollie Gotts slashed one back for the Knights, showing that the young side were still in the fight.

Whilst the first period commenced with a siege of the Knights’ net, the start of the second saw a surprising sally from the White Rose forces.

Leeds pulled the scoreline back to 3-2, just 31 seconds after the restart with Frankie O’Sullivan scoring again at The Nest.

Eagle-eyed Hawks fans may recognise the young squire from last season, where he broke the NIHL record for youngest ever goalscorer at 15 years old.

A slightly nervous Blackburn crowd looked on as the game ever so slightly hung in the balance.

Their fears were allayed after an ingenious effort from Andy McKinney saw the Player-Coach score from behind McCourt’s net, bouncing the puck off the back of the keeper’s leg and restoring the Hawks two-goal lead.

With this goal, the drawbridge was well and truly down as Blackburn began to storm.

Jacob Lutwyche got his first of the evening before McKinney got his second.

Adam Barnes sounded out the second period with a seventh strike of the game for the home side.

Any lingering hopes of a Leeds revival were quickly extinguished in the final frame.

Regan Kidd, Luca Maiuri and James Royds all found the net within the opening five minutes, as the Hawks turned an already commanding lead into an emphatic ten-goal advantage.

Lutwyche then took centre stage, adding two more to complete his hat-trick, with the final effort trickling almost effortlessly through the legs of back-up keeper Orson Groot.

Though the war of the score was all but over, personal battles still raged on the ice.

New signing Jacob Brammer followed in his brother’s fighting footsteps – reacting wrathfully after a push and dropping the gloves against an unwilling Lawrence Dean.

The youngster missed the final five minutes of the match (as well as the next few games …), with the away side making the most of the extra man through a late Ilan Berman consolation.

A twelve-goal haul sees the Hawks happy at home once again.

This War of the Roses win sees the “Pride of Lancashire” soar eleven points clear at the summit of NIHL1 North, with the Knights sent back across the Pennines nursing a bruising 12-3 defeat.

Next week sees another terrific tie at The Nest, with the Telford Tigers II hoping to avoid another mauling.