Leeds Knights coach Ryan Aldridge reveals 'concerns' after winning streak is extended

That's the verdict of Leeds Knights’ head coach Ryan Aldridge three weeks into the new NIHL National season – but with the crucial caveat that his team are still very much a work in progress.

Sunday night produced a 5-2 win for the Knights at home to Romford Raiders - 24 hours on from a 4-3 win in east London and stretching the reigning league champions’ winning run to four games.

But head coach Aldridge has concerns, some of which he addressed after Sunday’s win, including the absence of key defenceman Jordan Griffin with an upper-body injury and forward Mac Howlett with an ongoing illness.

It has left Aldridge short at both ends of the ice, his concerns the back-end increased on home ice when Lewis Baldwin had to be escorted off the ice after blocking a shot.

Young Jonas Bennet has stepped up and done an impressive job over the last three games, while Tom Dermott - called up from Leeds Knights 2 on Sunday - may be required for more shifts if Baldwin’s injury is serious enough to jeopardise his chances of travelling to Milton Keynes Lightning on Saturday.

“Have we been at our best yet? No, definitely not,” said Aldridge. “On Saturday night, we weren’t good enough for me and we weren’t good enough in some areas (on Sunday).

“So we’ve got to find a way to show up every night and come to work every night. It’s about mentality - we’ve also got to be good in other areas and we just need to improve on them.

“I think we’re in a tough spot with Griff out of the line-up. I think our D is really fragile without him, so I think that is a real tough spot for us.

“Obviously, not having Mac in the line-up is tough as well but the D side of the game we’re struggling with right now and we’ve got to be better and we’ll see where it leads us.

But so far, so good.”

On Sunday, the Knights got off to the perfect start when a drive down the middle from Fin Bradon saw him offload to Innes Gallacher on his right who marked his 21st birthday in style by beating Cole Ceci by firing into his top left-hand corner at 2.03.

At 16.04, Liam Peyton then bagged his fifth of the season with a neat, one-time finish from the bottom of the right circle off a feed from behind the goal by Arturs Mickevics.

Romford were level before the halfway mark, though, halving the deficit through Jake Sylvester on a breakaway at 21.08 before he doubled his tally on the powerplay just over eight minutes later.

Step forward Matt Bissonnette, the tall, skilful Canadian forward restoring the Knights’ lead at 34.47 when his shot squeezed through Ceci.

Bissonnette was then in the right place at the right time when Kieran Brown’s shot rebounded straight to him off Ceci with just over 10 minutes remaining.

He then made sure of the points - and his hat-trick - when he fired home a long-range empty-netter with 43 seconds remaining.