Leeds Knights 6 Peterborough Phantoms 5: Cole Shudra's timely double delight seals comeback triumph

The Knights went into the game short on bodies, with four missing on international duty with Great Britain Under-20s, plus experienced defensive pair Sam Zajac and Jordan Griffin both sidelined through injury.

Their absences was alleviated in part by the signing on Friday evening of defenceman Thomas Barry - thrown in against his former club on his Knights’ debut - and the temporary return of former Leeds forward Lewis Houston.

Head coach Ryan Aldridge admitted going into the game that the top-of-the-table clash - the Phantoms had drawn level with the Knights last Sunday - represented his players’ biggest test of the season so far.

It proved to be just that, particularly when they found themselves trailing by one goal for the third time in the match with just under three minutes to go.

It was then that Shudra - so effective for the Knights in both ends of the ice all season - chose to make his latest telling mark for the hosts, Barry and Zach Brooks combining to set him up for the equalising goal which took the game into overtime.

His timing was even better in the three-on-three add-on period when, with just 22 seconds remaining, he fired home a rocket to grab the extra point.

It was enough to see the Knights go ahead of the visitors in the standings by one point.

Earlier, the two took it in turns to light the lamp in a frenetic opening four minutes, which the Phantoms came out of 2-1 ahead, captain Kieran Brown putting Leeds ahead after just 76 seconds only to see it cancelled out by Jasper Foster at 3.02 with Corey McEwen putting the visitors in front just 30 seconds later.

It took veteran centreman Matt Haywood to bring the hosts level at 12.28 before Grant Cooper was in the right place at the right time to poke home a rebound off goalie Jordan Marr to put Leeds ahead for the second time of the match at 15.59.

The second belonged to the visitors, however, who levelled through Latvian forward Ralfs Circenis at 27.02 before getting their noses ahead for a second time through defenceman Brad Bowering with just under two minutes of the period remaining.

Again the Knights hauled themselves, level, Brown bagging a second of the night with just 108 seconds of the third period having passed.

That is now it stayed until Peterborough went ahead again, Duncan Speirs finding a way past Sam Gospel at 55.12.

That looked to be enough for Peterborough to replace the Knights at the top of the standings for the first time this season. But Shudra had other ideas.

The Knights’ planned trip to Raiders IHC on Sunday was postponed.

In a short statement, the Knights said: “Due to circumstances outside of the control of the Leeds organisation they are unable to travel. We apologise for the short notice and explanation, but as more information becomes available we will update you.”