'Phenomenal' Leeds Knights bounce back into form with dominating weekend
WHAT a difference a week makes.
A week on from posting a winless and pointless weekend to start their NIHl National title defence, Leeds Knights went to the other extreme.
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Last week head coach Ryan Aldridge blasted his players for the way they fell apart during the third period on opening night at home to Telford Tigers, losing 7-4.
This week, the Knights’ boss hailed his team as “phenomenal” after they twice beat Bristol Pitbulls 8-2.
It was necessary after the previous weekend’s frustrations, the Knights producing two dominant performances against a team they have now yet to lose against in 18 games.
In some ways, facing the Pitbulls after such a poor start to the campaign was perfect timing for Leeds, but they will be aware nothing is proven yet about this new-look team, with far tougher tests to come, starting with a weekend double-header against Romford Raiders.
“It felt like we were a bit more like ourselves this weekend,” said Alrdiege on Sunday night. “Going into Bristol, the way we’ve been playing, gave us a little bit of panic before the game but I think we soon got into our flow and we had a big game - I thought the boys had two phenomenal performances
“We’re not playing for the scoreboard, we’re playing for the performance, and that’s got to go for 60 minutes.
“I think we took 10 minutes or so off on Saturday and eight-10 minutes off on Sunday. That’s human nature, I guess. I struggle with that, but I guess it’s just human nature and you just can’t just keep going at full speed all the time.”
On a high from the previous night’s convincing win in Bristol, the Knights broke deadlock in the eighth minute in front of their own fans, Liam Peyton dashing down the left before cutting in and beating Harry Thomas from a tight angle at 7.53.
Balint Pakozdi doubled the lead from a rebound at 13.11 before Fin Bradon showed great speed and skill to race the length of the ice before backhanding over Thomas’ right shoulder to make it 3-0 at 22.14.
It was 6-0 after 40 minutes, after further power play goals from Arturs Mickevics and Bradon before the halfway mark were enhanced by a Matt Bissonnette effort at 39.46.
Bakozdi doubled his tally just seven seconds into the third before one of the loudest cheers of the night came when 17-year-old Daragh Spawforth pounced on a rebound to fire home from close range to make it 8-0 with his first goal for the team at 44.59.
Bristol grabbed late consolations through Sean Morris and Jacob Bryceland but it was to prove a weekend to forget for the visitors.