Leeds Knights coach Ryan Aldridge on how his players are proving their quality all over ice

Since Aldridge took over from Dave Whistle earlier this month, he has overseen a run of four wins in six games - a contrast to the one win in five preceding his arrival. It leaves the Knights in fifth spot in the table, 11 points off leaders Telford Tigers with 17 regular season games remaining.

Aldridge singled out a number of individuals for praise after Sunday’s thumping 8-2 win over the Lightning, which came on the back of an impressive 4-2 win in Buckinghamshire the previous night.

But the Knights coach was also keen to stress the improvement across the team, particularly in their willingness to improve the defensive side of their game all over the ice.

“This is a very skilled hockey team, they are starting to buy in as a unit and I think they’ve proved that over the weekend,” said Aldridge.

“The D side of the game was phenomenal. Kieran Brown - before I came in, certain people said certain things about Kieran but I feel he’s been unbelievable for us, his back checking has been incredible.

“But then everybody’s D side has been good and, obviously, when you can play good team defence with the offensive skill level that we’ve got, it gives you chances to win hockey games.

“It’s about maturity and immaturity. Chilly (defenceman Jamie Chilcott) tonight, really showed that maturity in his game, I thought he was unbelievable. We get caught a little bit at times making inexperienced plays but, again, I can’t fault them this weekend because I thought they were solid for 120 minutes.”