Hull Seahawks coach Matty Davies seizes on the positives despite frustrating end to National Cup Final opening night

With just over four minutes to go in the first leg of a pulsating tie against Milton Keynes Lightning, the Seahawks were well-placed to take a slender one-goal advantage into next Tuesday’s second instalment in Buckinghamshire.

But, this being hockey, the momentum of the game switched in an instant.

A power play opportunity presented itself to Tim Wallace’s team when Nathan Salem was sent to the box on a tripping call in the 54th minute.

The hosts – driven on by a sell-out 1,600 crowd at Hull Ice Arena – looked like they were set to kill the penalty off until the Lightning eventually made the extra man count with a swift three-man play that resulted in Dillon Lawrence redirecting Rory Herrman’s pinpoint pass beyond Jordan McLaughlin.

Six seconds later, the Lightning were ahead, the resulting face-off at centre ice somehow giving them a 2-on-1 opportunity that Rio Grinell-Parke did not pass up when he only had McLaughlin to beat.

Talk about sucking the life out of the building.

The temptation for Hull to go for a late equaliser would have been great, but it was more important to ensure they didn’t let Milton Keynes in at the other end and take even greater control of the tie.

As it is, Davies was able to reflect on the positives that came out of the first leg.

“Right now, it’s still raw and I’m disappointed with the last bit there,” he said. “We took a really bad penalty and when you give that team momentum like that, it’s poor.

“And the last goal is really disappointing, right off the draw which should never happen.

“But then, you look at the other side of it. What a night it was - completely packed out in this building, it was loud and was exactly what we needed.

“Fair play to MK, they’ve come here, a tough place to come and their top players delivered but then so did ours – it was a great game, a proper hockey game, tough and right now we’re at the halfway point and there is just one goal in it.

“We know we can play with this team, we’ve done it all season. At the end of the day, we’ve done a great job. We’re still in this final, we’ve still got a great chance of doing something special.”