Leeds Knights: Fans Jury rejoices in Knights’ maximum weekend return in NIHL National

Jim Piper, from Manchester: Coach Ryan Aldridge had said that Knights need to win at least one game per weekend and his charges ticked the box on Saturday against bottom team London Raiders.

Knights got off to a good, early start with a Lewis Baldwin rocket from the blue line on 3.43 and closed out the first period 3-0 when Adam Barnes scored a “worldy”, mesmerising the Raiders defence with a wonderful skate and finish, and Cole Shudra scored soon after.

Raiders pulled one back early in the second but two goals from stand-in captain Matty Davis gave the home side a comfortable 5-1 lead at the end of the second.

Two quick Raiders’ goals in the third brought a time out by Leeds and the team reacted with two superb strikes by Kieran Brown sending another large crowd home happy.

An outstanding performance by Sam Gospel, assisted by a superb defensive display on Sunday in Peterborough, saw the Knights take two deserved points.

A brace from Adam Barnes and an empty net goal by Cole Shudra saw the visitors home against a strong, physical Phantoms side.

Johnathan Greenwood, from Halifax: The Knights came out and did everything they needed to keep their top-four hopes on track by taking maximum points.

It might’ve been expected that the home side saw off the visit of Raiders but, even so, it was an impressive performance and the start of what I thought was a stellar weekend from Adam Barnes, the former Bradford Bulldogs posting a seven-point weekend without picking up the man-of-match gong, illustrating how many players are coming up big at the moment.

A three-zip first period allowed Leeds the freedom to be expansive throughout the game and produce some cracking combinations for the highlight reel.

A strong contender for goal of the night came when Kieran Brown notched his 100th point of the campaign as part of a link-up with goalscorer Barnes and captain Matty Davies.

But for a quick double from Jake Sylvester early in the third it was a comfortable evening on home ice.

Sunday’s visit to the Phantoms was never going to offer the same, and the 60 minutes in the snug surroundings of Peterborough proved a great test.

While the Knights were never behind they were challenged until the death by Slava Koulkiov’s outfit for the second weekend in succession.

An empty-net strike from Cole Shudra with 40 ticks left sealed a 3-1 win that was in no small part possible thanks to an almost unbeatable Sam Gospel between the iron at the other end.

This week offers Ryan Aldridge the chance to focus the lines on just the one game. A trip to Basingstoke is the task on Sunday, and comes just two weeks after a 5-1 humbling at the hands of the Bison.

So while it might not be a fixture slate that demands too much, the detail will be poured over in training midweek.

Keeping pace with those above means limited room for error and the Knights certainly met the challenge this weekend. A third-straight win is next in the sights. On we go.

Nick Jackson, Leeds: What a great Saturday night at The Castle.

From the start the team looked dominant, a great goal by Lewis Baldwin within four minutes got the place bouncing, and it didn’t stop. with Barnes and Shudra adding to the haul.

The second started a bit slower. Not much though, but enough that the Raiders could get through the D and past ‘GosWall’. We recovered nicely, though, with two goals by Matty Davies.

The third period was crazy. Raiders scored two goals close together but Brown pulled us back within a minute before making it 7-3 overall.

I didn’t make it to the game on Sunday but my wife assures me they were brilliant again.

It was a great performance by all of them but Adam Barnes had a blinding weekend - one goal and four assists on Saturday followed by 2 goals on Sunday. Barnes and Brown play so well together you know one of them will score when their line is on.

Brown also became the first player this season to reach 100 points. That’s incredible. I can’t wait until next weekend to see what the lads do at Bison.

Michael Prior, Otley: After the disappointment of Sunday’s miserable loss there was a little bit of pressure on the Leeds Knights to bounce back last weekend - and bounce back they did, taking a maximum of four points from their games against the London Raiders and Peterborough Phantoms.

Raiders were the visitors to Elland Road on Saturday night facing a Leeds side still licking their wounds and they were in the wrong place at the wrong time leaving The Castle on the wrong end of a 7-3 drubbing.

Leeds were back to their scintillating best going 3-0 up by the end of the first period though Lewis Baldwin, Adam Barnes and Cole Shudra.

Raiders threatened to make a game of it scoring three times, including a shorthanded goal, but only got as close as 5-3 before the Knights shifted through the gears again in front of a 1,200-plus crowd to put their stamp on the game and were well worth the two points.

Sunday saw a road trip to Peterborough and while the game was nowhere near as dramatic as the reverse fixture a week ago the Knights prevailed 3-1 with in-form forward Adam Barnes notching a brace and netminder Sam Gospel again showing his worth stopping 39 of the Phantoms’ 40 shots.

Next weekend is just a one game scenario for the Knights but it’s a long trip down to Basingstoke Bison where they will look to keep the win train rolling and enter the business end of the season on a high - hopefully avenging the recent 5-1 defeat on home ice.