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The Knights slipped to their second defeat of the NIHL National regular season having left themselves with too much to do once they went 4-0 down inside 28 minutes at Elland Road Ice Arena on Saturday night.

They hit back with goals from captain Kieran Brown and Mac Howlett, but it was too little, too late, as an experienced and impressive Swindon closed the game out for a deserved two points.

“We weren’t good enough,” said the Knights’ head coach. “We weren’t good enough last Saturday night (when losing at Milton Keynes) but we came out on the Sunday and got the reaction we wanted.

FRUSTRATION: Leeds Knights' head coach Ryan Aldridge wasn't happy with his players' efforts against Swindon Wildcats. Picture: Bruce Rollinson

“Against Swindon we started slow, gave too many odd-man rushes away, too many turnovers.

“We knew it was going to be a hard game, we knew they were going to come in here and play physical and just didn’t have anything to match that tonight.”

Former GB international Russ Cowley got the ball rolling for the visitors at 4.23 and before the Knights had a chance to gather their thoughts, they found themselves 2-0 behind through a Colby Tower strike just 98 seconds later.

Aaron Nell’s power play strike at 26.42 piled on the agony and was followed just 35 seconds later by a Chris Jones marker.

TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE: Mac Howlett scored Leeds Knights' second goal against Swindon on Saturday, but it proved nothing more than a late consolation. Picture: Aaron Badkin/Leeds Knights

Although Brown was quick to respond and get his team on the board at 29.19, it wasn’t until there were less than four minutes remaining that the Knights were able to reduce the deficit further through Howlett.

But, like they had all game, Swindon - whose season has been disrupted after their rink was flooded - proved a tough to crack and comfortably saw the game out to take home both points for their second win of the season.

The Knights have an opportunity to make home advantage work better for them on Sunday when they welcome Sheffield Steeldogs (5.;15pm), who edged out Telford Tigers 3-2 at Ice Sheffield on Saturday through goals from player-coach Jason Hewitt, debutant defenceman Sam Cooper and Jonathan Phillips.

"We’ve got to be on our game,” added Aldridge. “They are a defensively strong team – good goaltending, good D – and they’ve obviously got some experience to their line-up, they’ve added Tate (Shudra, former Leeds player) too and they are going to be coming here looking for a win, especially after seeing tonight’s result.

"We’ve got to bounce back.”

Leeds Knights coach Ryan Aldridge issues icy blast after performance against Swindon Wildcats