Newcastle KBS Vipers came away from their first competitive weekend unbeaten despite a late scare at home to the Fife Flyers on Sunday night.

Having drawn 3-3 away to Hull Thunder on Saturday, the Vipers made a good early start and went 4-1 up against the Scottish visitors, in front of more than 2,000 fans.

Stephen Wallace opened the scoring with a minute to go in the first period with a deflected shot which bounced into the net off the back of Fife netminder Steve Briere.

The second period saw flamboyant forward Joel Irwin get Newcastle's second and Tyneside favourite Rob Trumbly netted twice, with John Haig getting a consolation for the visitors.

However the third period saw an amazing fightback for Fife with Todd Dutiaurne scoring 17 seconds from the restart.

Two goals from David Smith saw the Flyers pull level.

The first was a lucky break as Smith's shot was parried by goalie Pasi Raitanen only to bounce off Ian Defty into the back off the net.

Smith's second was a weak goal which trickled through Raitanen's legs.

However Simon Leach restored the lead with four minutes to go and after Fife removed their goalkeeper in favour of an extra skater, Jeff Trembecky rounded off the scoring into an empty net.