Hull Seahawks coach Matty Davies targets further progress and first NIHL National win

A week on from the horror of their first competitive weekend in the second-tier - one which brought a 12-0 defeat at Swindon Wildcats and a 9-0 home loss to Milton Keynes Lightning - the under-strength Seahawks provided a much-needed ray of hope when taking on defending league champions Telford Tigers.

The double-header weekend against Tom Watkins’s side looked another daunting prospect for a Hull team currently being padded out with youngsters from the KIngston Sharks junior system and lower-level two-way signings.

Those bodies are required because of the Seahawks still waiting for import duo Emil Svec and Andrej Themar still awaiting the green light to come to the UK and play from the Home Office, as well as the injuries currently affecting player-coach Davies and captain Sam Towner.

This weekend sees no let-up for Davies’s players, first facing a tough visit to Milton Keynes - who along with Leeds Knights are one of only two remaining unbeaten teams in the league - before welcoming Basingstoke Bison to Hull Ice Arena on Sunday.

“It’s going to be another weekend where we’ll be playing two really good teams and we’re going to have to be really good again,” said Davies. “Hopefully, we’ll get some lads back and also fingers crossed we get the two boys (imports) in - but I think we’ve said that enough now.

“Every day we’re checking our emails, ringing up and doing everything we can to find out information on those two boys and the Home Office just aren’t rushing, so what more can we do?”

In the meantime, Davies is full of nothing but praise for the players that he does have at his disposal, a number of them playing at this level for the first time.

“That first weekend, it was a tough one and to come back (against Telford) they’ve shown tons of character and what they are about,” added Davies.

“They’ve shown that they can compete, even without the other lads. And that’s really good to see - the young kids that have stepped in and done a job for us, it’s been brilliant.

“Yes, we haven’t won again and I want to win games obviously, but just to take last season’s league winners to the end was great. I felt like we should have won (on Sunday) and these are big steps in the right direction.

“It’s great to see young kids out there having a go against senior players - you just can’t ask any more from them.”