Junior review - Sunderland Arrows gave themselves a chance of avoiding the promotions/relegation play-offs of English junior (U16) North League with a 4-1 win over Whitley Tomahawks.

The bottom two from North A League are joined by top two from B league with the leading two from those ties playing in the A league in season 2002-03, the other two in the B league.

Whitley are bottom of A with only one point and look certain to be in the play-offs while Sunderland and Billingham Bears are both battling it out to avoid the remaining slot.

Michael Allinson put Arrows ahead at Hillheads against Tomahawks at 19.26 after an end to end first period which brought no goals. Two minutes later Dean Holland doubled Sunderland's lead.

Arrows captain Richard Westgarth added a third with his side short-handed and on the powerplay Shane Hewitt gave Sunderland a 4-0 lead. Arrows' Andrew Kelly picked a fine plus game misconduct for roughing at 41.16 and he went after Tomahawks' Philip Atherton who received the penalty in the first period.

Whitley outshot Sunderland, but could not breach their defence and in the final minutes broke Mark Lee's shut-out with a goal from Ian Emerson.

Arrows: Richard Westgarth 1+2, Michael Allinson 1+1, Dean Holland, Shane Hewitt 1+0. Tomahawks: Ian Emerson 1+0, David Barrett 0+1.

Whitley travelled to Altrincham Jets the next day and suffered their second loss of the weekend. Jets got off to a good start with the opening goal on a powerplay at 03.22 and two more by 05.03.

Altrincham scored again in the first minute of the second period. The lead was 6-0 by the end of the second period and no goals came in the final period. Philip Atherton was Tomahawks' man of the match.

Billingham Bears lost 4-3 at Hull ice arena against leaders Kingston Crunch. It was a creditable performance from a side battling at the bottom end of the league.

James McCabe put Bears ahead after four minutes and Crunch were level at 10.15 short-handed. Another goal short-handed put Kingston ahead 20 seconds into the second period. Two minutes later on the powerplay Kingston went 3-1 ahead.

Peter Rix cut the deficit on 21.11 and within five minutes the home side had regained their two-goal advantage. McCabe's second of the game on the powerplay in the 34th minute brought Bears back to within one of Kingston with plenty of time to salvage a point. However, that was not possible, but a performance that will give them heart to pull away from the play-off zone.

Bears: James McCabe 2+0, Peter Rix 1+0, Stuart Gibbon, Steven Pritchard 0+1.

Whitley Bay Arrows went down 2-1 at Hillheads to Sheffield Lasers in English Bantam (U12) North A league. Arrows defeat meant that Sheffield leapfrog over them into second place. Arrows took the lead at 13.40 through Andrew Wood when short-handed for the only goal of the first period. Penalties cost Whitley dear as Sheffield scored on powerplays at 23.13 and 31.16 to go ahead. Sheffield gave away penalties but Whitley failed to take chances handed to them.

Sheffield hung on for victory.

Arrows: Andrew Wood 1+0, Jamie Tinsley 0+1.

Sunderland Apaches defeated Whitley Bay Mischiefs 7-3 in the English U10 North at Hillheads. Apaches were ahead at 01.14 through Callum Davies. Michael Elder and Jack Watkins (2) increased the advantage to 4-0 after 14 minutes. Josh Maddock opened Mischiefs' account at 17.20. Watkins scored twice in a minute to reach four goals in the match and to increase Apaches' lead to 6-1 at 31.30. Mischiefs: Josh Maddock, Liam Brown, Steven Worrall 1+0, Adam Perrie 0+1.

Apaches: Jack Wtkins 4+1, Callum Davies 1+2, Michael Elder, Alex Lawson 1+0, Dale Sharp 0+1.

Billingham Wildcats lost 0-3 at the Forum ice arena against Kingston Diamonds in the women's premier league. It was their second defeat in a row following on from a 5-3 loss against Nottingham Vipers.

Whitley Braves defeated Flintshire Avalanche 6-2 on their travels in the English U19 North B League. Richard Dunn put Braves ahead but they found themselves trailing 1-2. Richard Horkan equalised for 2-2 before the end of the second period.

Dunn, Ian Emerson, John Shreeve and Neil Bainbridge were on target for Braves in the final period. The win kept intact their 100 per cent record and sends Whitley to the top of the table with a one-point lead over Solihull Knights and with two games in hand