Leeds Knights 7 Sheffield Steeldogs 0: Champions restore belief after 'complete' derby performance
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The 7-0 win over derby rivals Sheffield Steeldogs was not quite as comfortable as it would appear, the visitors proving a good match for their hosts in an end-to-end encounter.
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Hide AdBut there were two key differences. The Knights’ clinical finishing and the heroics performed by their netminder Sam Gospel, who turned away all of the 35 shots that came down on his goal.
It was the same number of goalscoring chances as fashioned by the Knights at the other end at Elland Road Ice Arena on Saturday night.
But the Steeldogs were quick to respond less than 24 hours later when they bounced back to defeat leaders Milton Keynes Lightning 3-2 at Ice Sheffield, thereby helping their conquerors from the previous night in the process.
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Hide AdKnights’ head coach Aldridge has mentioned several times already this season how his team have been struggling to find their form, while all the time remaining in the top two.
The feeling is that after two years of sustained and remarkable success from his team, there is a struggle to maintain the kind of form and performance levels that have brought them three trophies in that time.
Aldridge has always backed his players and has remained confident they could work through their so-called problems.
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Hide AdHe hopes Saturday night’s performance is the first step on the way to them returning to the kind of consistent form which sets them apart from the vast majority of their NIHL National rivals.
Of course, it helps when you have a top line producing in such volume as that filled by Matt Haywood, Matt Barron and Matt Bissonnette.
Against the club he served with such distinction for three seasons, it was Bissonnette who led the way, not for the first time this season, his goal and three assists taking his points tally for the season to 28.
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Hide AdIt was a night for stats, in one way, Haywood blasting through the 250-point mark as a Knight with two goals and an assist.
But whoever gets the points is not important for Aldridge, just the performance overall, of which he was clearly delighted judging by his post-match interview.
“I thought we were phenomenal from start to finish,” said Aldridge. “We played for 60 minutes which was the first time we’ve done that in a long, long time - it was 59 and a half minutes last week and it cost us the game eventually.
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Hide Ad“But we were good in all areas of the ice tonight and fully deserved it.”
On Gospel’s man-of-the-match performance, Aldridge was equally impressed, adding: “I said to him after the game that they could have played for another two hours and they probably wouldn’t have scored given the mindset he was in.
“He was phenomenal from start to finish. There were two good goalies playing in the game tonight but he was incredible.”
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Hide AdThe Knights took control early on when FInley Bradon’s third-minute opener was improved exactly two minutes later by Innes Gallacher’s strike at 4.35.
Haywood’s first of the night came just under four minutes later before a close-range finish from Mac Howlett gave the Steeldogs a mountain to climb with less than two minutes of the second period gone.
Just after the halfway mark, Knights’ forward Jordan Buesa was tossed from the game for an illegal check to the head but, after the hosts killed off the subsequent five-minute penalty, it was clear the night was only going one way.
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Hide AdA second for Haywood just 43 seconds into the third further demoralised the visitors, before a well-worked goal between the veteran centre, Barron and Bissonnette resulted in the latter firing home his eighth of the season at 49.19.
As the game wound down, Howlett doubled his tally in the 53rd minute.
While the Steeldogs may have drawn a blank on both fronts in Leeds, they more than made up for it the following night.
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Hide AdWalker Sommer opened the scoring at 9.48 on the powerplay, the hosts restoring their lead almost immediately after Milique Martelly’s 34th-minute equaliser through Finlay Ulrick. Jonathan Phillips made it 3-1 at 43.44 and although Ross Venus replied at 56.17, the hosts took both points.
Goals from Bobby Chamberlain, Lee Haywood, Owen Sobchak and Owen Bruton earned Hull Seahawks a 4-1 win at Berkshire Bees on Saturday, keeping them in third place and hot on the heels of Milton Keynes and Leeds, ahead of their renewal against Ashley Tait’s team in East Yorkshire on Sunday evening.