Leeds Knights v Telford Tigers: Ryan Aldridge aware of threat posed by Tigers

It was the Tigers, of course, who came to West Yorkshire on the opening night of the 2025-26 NIHL National season and headed home to Shropshire boasting a deserved 7-4 victory against the Knights.

Defeat also came the following night at Peterborough Phantoms for head coach Ryan Aldridge and his players but, since that weekend, the Knights have turned their campaign around, sitting second in the standings heading into Saturday night’s encounter at Elland Road Ice Arena.

Telford lie fifth and are the only team to beat leaders Swindon Wildcats in regulation this season, although they come into the clash at The Castle on the back of an unexpected 8-2 loss at home to Sheffield Steeldogs on Wednesday night.

But, given his own first-hand experience in defeat at the hands of Tom Watkins’ team, Aldridge – whose team enjoyed a convincing 5-1 win at home to Hull Seahawks on Thursday night – is fully aware of the dangers posed across both nights on a double-header weekend between the only two teams to have won the NIHL National league crown. "Telford are another really tough team,” said Aldridge, whose team head to Telford on Sunday evening. “They lost pretty heavily at home in the week and are going to be desperate to bounce back.

“We know it’s going to be two tough games and we already know to our costs from the first night, that they’ve got a lot of firepower.”