A Chieftains side, strengthened by the recent signings of John Cotton from Blackburn and American David Heavey, at last showed the sort of scoring power that could see them climb the league with an impressive performance against table-toppers Blackburn on Saturday.

It took just 2.24 minutes for Heavey to get his first point in a Chieftains' shirt when he was on hand with Karl Rogers to set up Anders Tjarnstrom for the first goal on a power-play.

Blackburn then took advantage of a blue line mix up and levelled through Andrew Dickson.

At 14.48, with Michael Linslay penalised for holding, Hawks went in front with Dickson's second goal and with just 18 seconds left in the period Chieftains levelled after Tjarnstrom and Rogers set up Heavey for his first goal for Chieftains.

The game was held up while a bizarre wrangle with referee Renee Ross resulted in the official walking out, an action which is sure to bring a suspension from his governing body.

After some negotiation, both teams agreed to run with a two-official system with the two assistants, Tottman and Gosden, assuming joint control.

After 58 seconds of the second period, Hawks regained the lead through Dickson's hat-trick effort after a sloppy defensive mix-up.

Chieftains rallied with a fine Andy Hannah strike, set up by Jon Cotton, and Chieftains then found themselves on a power-play after a penalty call on Mackriel and Tero Sarkinierni scored with a fine strike.

Blackburn then scored a soft goal, through Lamonte Polet, but back came Chieftains and Cotton netted a superb goal, his first for the club.

A further infringement from Linslay left Hawks on a power-play which they took advantage of when Dickson hit home his fourth goal.

Hawks went in front again at 29.54, again on a power-play with Tony Cimelli in the sin-bin on an elbows penalty, and Polet took advantage with a shot through Dave Pinchin's legs.

With the game becoming more physical, Chieftains found themselves on a power-play and once again, they punished Hawks when Sarkinierni set up Cotton.

Chelmsford swarmed forward and Tjarnstrom scored his second goal, and Chieftains took a slender 7-6 lead into the second interval.

Chieftains looked to have the game sewn up on 46.28 when a good Rogers/Heavey play sent Tjarnstrom away and the Swede hit home a tremendous goal.

Chieftains then left James Beale alone on the blue line and the young defender saw his slap shot sail in on 50.45.

An eighth Blackburn goal looked on the cards as Chieftains surrendered the mid-zone and with less than two minutes left on the clock, Simon Mills hit an innocuous backhand past Pinchin.

For Blackburn, Andrew Dickson was named player-of-the-match, and Jon Cotton, who in one game has become a firm fans' favourite, picked up the award for Chieftains.

Top hat . . Chelmsford Chieftains' Anders Tjarnstrom, who scored a hat-trick in Saturday's match against the Blackburn Hawks.

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