Panthers help Devils

Rejuvenated Nottingham Panthers prevented Newcastle Cobras from closing the gap on the Superleague leaders, Cardiff Devils, with a 9-5 win on Sunday.

Cobras, bidding to make up ground on Devils and second-placed Sheffield Steelers, took the lead in the first minute. But they were out of the game by the 40-minute mark, when they trailed 7-2. Marty Dallman's first hat-trick for Panthers was the main talking point, although the prolific Paul Adey weighed in with a treble himself.

The win made up for Saturday's disappointment as Nottingham were beaten for the first time since winning the Benson and Hedges Cup. Trailing 2- 0 at Sheffield, they scored twice in the last three minutes through Adey and Jason Jennings, only to lose to an overtime goal from Nicky Chinn.

The result enabled Sheffield to close the gap on Cardiff to three points.

The son of the widely travelled football goalkeeper John Burridge is carving out a sporting career for himself as an ice hockey player with the Blackburn Hawks. Tom Burridge scored two goals in Sunday's Northern Premier League game at Whitley Warriors which earned his mid-table team a 5-4 victory. Burridge was named man of the match.