Hull Seahawks, Leeds Knights and Sheffield Steeldogs take play-off seedings race down to final weekend

The 4-2 victory in Shropshire on Sunday keeps the Knights firmly in a four-way race for finishing runners-up in the regular season standings, Swindon Wildcats having long been crowned champions.

Yorkshire rivals Hull Seahawks and Sheffield Steeldogs sit either side of third-placed Leeds who finish their campaign off this weekend by following up Saturday’s trip to Bristol Pitbulls with a Sunday visit from Peterborough Phantoms, who currently sit one point adrift of them in fifth.

The play-offs will comprise two groups of four, each playing the three other teams once at home and once away.

The teams finishing fourth and fifth - currently Sheffield and the Phantoms - will play champions Swindon and Romford, who can finish no higher than the eighth spot they clinched at the weekend at the expense of Solway Sharks.

Milton Keynes Lightning and Telford Tigers can only finish sixth or seventh after next weekend and will be joined in Group B by the teams finishing second and third.

That is currently Hull Seahawks and Leeds Knights but, with only three points separating the teams from second to fifth, that could all change this weekend.

In Telford, the Knights got off to a tricky start when falling behind early to David Thomson’s strike.

Owen Sobchak levelled for the Knights at 23.47, only for Louie Newell to fire the hosts back in front again 61 seconds later.

But two goals in 35 seconds - the first from Sam Cooper at 28.41, the second from Kieran Brown - had the Knights ahead before the halfway mark.

It was a lead they doubled in the 39th minute through Brown, with the Knights going on to close out the game.

Hull made it a four-point weekend when following Friday’s 3-1 win at Sheffield with a 4-3 win in overtime at home to Bristol Pitbulls.

Alex Kent put the Seahawks ahead 13.46 before the Pitbulls - out of play-off contention - levelled through Mason Lipsey less than a minute later.

The 24-year-old British forward then doubled his and his team’s tally when he put the visitors ahead with just under two minutes of the period remaining.

The Seahawks levelled through Lee Bonner just after the halfway mark but fell behind for a second time when Jake Bricknell struck at 40.54.

Josh Crawley then picked the perfect moment to register his first goal for the Seahawks when he equalised at 55.54, enough to take the game into overtime when Johnny Corneil took just 49 seconds to secure the extra point for Matty Davies’ team.

“On Friday, we played the game we needed to play to win,” said head coach Davies. “We were solid all over the ice and we played the way I wanted to play.

“Against Bristol, it was very different. It was always going to be difficult, against a team - no disrespect - who have nothing to play for.

“And we’re not traditionally very good against teams like that, to be honest. When we’re dialled in and we’re solid defensively we’re a tough team to beat.

“But when we get away from that a little bit, our intensity drops and it’snot the best.But the positive is that at the end of the day it didn’t really mean anything for us, either, and you have to move on as best you can.”