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COMPARED to his own high standards – top points scorer in NIHL National in three successive years for example – the first few weeks of the 2024-25 campaign had proved somewhat ‘lean’ for Leeds Knights captain Kieran Brown.

That all changed at the weekend. Everyone knew it would at some point.

Up until Saturday night’s trip to South Yorkshire to take on derby rivals and former team Sheffield Steeldogs, the Knights captain had been ‘struggling’ when it came to getting his name on the gamesheet this season.

He had still been averaging more than a point a game, just not to the dominant extent he had done since first joining the Knights back in the summer of 2021.

Seven goals and nine assists from 11 games would please most players in the UK’s second tier, but it has to be said it was below par for Brown.

Last week saw a frustrated head coach Ryan Aldridge urge for scoring from more than just his highly-effective top line of Matt Bissonnette, Matt Haywood and Matt Barron.

That weekend he had mixed his lines up in an attempt to get others going in terms of scoring - but ended up switching it back in order to ‘win a hockey game’ - that ‘game’ being the 3-2 home victory over a dogged Telford Tigers.

In Sheffield, Aldridge switched personnel around again and, this time, it seemed to work.

LEADING MAN: Kieran Brown scored eight points across the weekend, including four goals in the 5-4 win over Swindon Wildcats. Picture: Ben Gordon/Knights Media.

Brown found himself out on the ice most often with Bissonnette and Barron and got himself on the scoresheet in the 33rd minute, as well as adding two assists.

It was his first multi-point game since October 6 in the 5-4 win over Solway Sharks.

A spark had clearly been lit as, just under 24 hours after the trip to Sheffield, Brown was leading his team to victory in a rousing 5-4 comeback win at home to Swindon Wildcats.

His team 3-0 down at the halfway point, it was Brown who spearheaded the way back, ending the night with four goals before throwing in an assist for good measure on Barron’s 55th-minute game-winning strike.

COMEBACK Matt Barron, Oli Endicott and Kieran Brown celebrate against Swindon Wildcats on Sunday night. Picture: Ben Gordon/Knights Media.

Aldridge has been critical of his team’s performances over the first quarter of the season. The players will hope they have answered some of his criticisms over the weekend just gone, establishing themselves in a position they have been familiar with over the last two and a half years, at the top of the table looking down on everyone else.

Kieran Brown and how he got back in the scoring groove again for Leeds Knights