Leeds Knights chief Ryan Aldridge not taking play-off rivals Telford Tigers for granted

The Knights may have finished 52 points ahead of Tom Watkins’s team in the regular season, but that will count for little in their latest meeting at Coventry’s SkyDome Arena.

In the head-to-head series between the two teams, Leeds won five of the six encounters.

Everything points to a Leeds win. But that is exactly where the danger lies, says head coach Ryan Aldridge.

“We do have to be confident given the way we’ve played at times this past couple of weekends - all season, in fact,” said Aldridge. “But we’ve also got to be realistic and wary of Telford.

“They have got a coaching staff that have been there time and time again and they also have a quality team.

“They had a lot of players leave at the start of the season but did some good recruitment mid-season and they got themselves to the final four.

“This is a team who beat Milton Keynes Lightning over two legs, so it is certainly not going to be an easy night.

“During the regular season we’ve matched up against them very well but this is totally different hockey, different mentality, different thought process.

“It’s about how you handle your emotions in that kind of setting and they are obviously more used to that than our group is.

“So, yes, we have to be confident but we need to be aware that we’ll have to be at our best to get through to that final.”

At stake in Coventry on Saturday is a place in the final against either their Yorkshire rivals Sheffield Steeldogs or Raiders IHC, the latter having pulled off another surprise in the quarter-finals when edging out Peterborough Phantoms over two legs.

Defenceman Sam Zajac continues to be sidelined with a hand injury, while 17-year-old forward Fin Bradon is away on international duty with Great Britain on the Under-18 World Championships in Belgrade.

Aldridge said there were a couple of other doubts on the injury front but that he will make game-day decisions on the players concerned.