Leeds Chiefs urged to maintain momentum by taking further small steps

READ MORE – Leeds Chiefs 4 Milton Keynes Lightning 1 - Resolute Chiefs remain in playoff contention

No longer distracted and deflated by playing home games on the road, Sam Zajac’s team are now focussed on a 17-game campaign, aiming to overturn a 10-point deficit and gatecrash the NIHL National playoffs at the first time of asking.

Three points from tough encounters against Milton Keynes Lightning and second-placed Swindon Wildcats, means the Chiefs have taken five from the last possible six following on from last week’s shootout win at leaders Telford Tigers.

It may not seem like a lot but the gap between themselves and Raiders IHC, who occupy the eighth and final playoff spot is one point less than it was before the weekend.

Similarly small steps will be need to be taken in the next seven weeks or so for the Chiefs to realise their playoff dream, as player-coach Sam Zajac acknowledged.

“We’ve shown that in the last three games we’re a tough team to play against when everyone is going,” said Zajac. “We need to make sure we have that for the last 17 games if we are to stand a chance of making the playoffs.

“We’re in a good place this weekend, I know Romford had a win when they beat Bracknell, but we’ve made up a little ground on them with this extra point tonight as the both lost.

“So the gap is only 10 points now and that is what we’ve got to do, just keep chipping away at those two. It’s about small steps and we’re not really looking past the next game.”

That next game, of course, is a rather special one, with Sheffield Steeldogs making the short trip up the M1 to be the first opponent for the Chiefs in their new Elland Road home which finally opens its doors for the first time on Friday evening.

And although it was Swindon who ended Sunday night’s clash the happier of the two teams in Solihull, there were more than enough positives for the Chiefs to take into this week’s Yorkshire derby in Leeds.

Steven Moore was the hero on Sunday, his hat-trick the main reason the Chiefs were able to take a deserved point from their third meeting of the season against a Swindon team intent on overturning the four-point gap between themselves and a faltering Telford.

However, it looked bleak for the Chiefs in their final home game on the road, finding themselves 3-0 adrift inside 24 minutes.

Tomasz Malasinski, Aaron Nell and Tyler VanKleef put the Wildcats in control and even though Moore got the Chiefs on the board with his first of the night at 25.09, the visitors had got themselves even further in front just over 10 minutes later through Floyd Taylor and Chris Jones.

The Chiefs called a timeout and saw the benefit almost immediately, Adam Barnes ending a four-game scoring drought at 36.17.

That gave the Chiefs the impetus they desperately needed, leading to a rousing third-period comeback, one that started with Moore’s second of the night at 44.51.

The 26-year-old Scottish winger then sealed a memorable hat-trick with a short-handed strike at 55.35 before former Solway Sharks’ team-mate Lewis Houston applied the levelling touch at 58.05.

Sadly, that was as good as it got for the Chiefs, who succumbed just 22 seconds into overtime as Jones’s second of the night sealed a 6-5 win.

On Saturday against Milton Keynes at Coventry’s SkyDome Arena, it was the Chiefs who got the all-important go-ahead goal in the 16th minute.

Ethan Hehir found space in the left-hand corner from where he found Luke Boothroyd at the point on the opposite wing. His shot from distance cannoned off Liam Charnock with the puck falling kindly for Joe Coulter to fire home from close range for his second goal in as many games.

To say the Chiefs came out flying early in the second period is putting it mildly, as they forged a 3-0 lead for themselves within 44 seconds of the restart.

The industrious Hehir got his rewards when following up a shot from Andres Kopstals to fire past Dean Skinns at 20.32. Then, just 12 seconds later, it was 3-0 when the equally lively Houston pounced.

The Lightning rallied and rallied hard, at times almost camped inside the Chiefs’ zone, before – as if to add insult to injury – the hosts broke out, Henderson finding Coulter who then fed Charnock to make it 4-0 at 32.10.

The Lightning got one back just under six minutes into the third through Russell Cowley, but the Chiefs showed great resilience thereafter, especially when killing 98 seconds of a 5-on-3 penalty to seal an impressive 4-1 win.