Leeds Knights goalie Sam Gospel outlines National Cup Final threat posed by Romford Raiders

The Knights have a 100 per cent record against their London-based rivals in the league this season, including two wins at the Sapphire where they head to for the first leg of the showpiece finale on Saturday.

The Raiders were up there at the top of the standings in the early part of the campaign, winning seven of their first 10 games under player-coach Adam Laishram, who was only appointed last summer to replace Sean Easton.

That 10th game came at the hands of Leeds, who won 4-2 on the road thanks to goals from Oli Endicott, Matt Haywood (2) and Matt Barron and have since gone on to put themselves in contention for a third straight league title with 12 games to play.

But it is the National Cup that has eluded them so far since they first competed in the 2021-22 season.

To buy tickets to the second leg of the National Cup Final between Leeds and Romford this Sunday (Feb 16) click HERE

Last year saw them exit over two legs at the semi-final stage to Hull Seahawks - beaten in a painful 9-4 aggregate loss - while the previous year saw them almost complete one of the most unlikely comebacks in the final.

Trailing 6-0 after the first leg at Peterborough Phantoms, the Knights clawed their way back to within one goal overall before eventually losing out 8-6 on aggregate.

There is a sense of unfinished business with this particular competition.

“For us, as a group, we’ve won the league, we’ve won the play-offs and so it is that one thing that, so far, we’ve not been able to get our hands on,” said netminder Gospel.

“We’ve been in that situation before. We were there with Peterborough and came close and just didn’t get our hands on it and then slipped up against Hull last year in the semi-finals.

“I’m just hoping we can get the job done this time.”

Gospel warned against any kind of complacency against a Romford team who have matched up well with the league’s leading teams this season - beating both Milton Keynes and Swindon.

“It won’t be easy though, Romford are a good team,” he added.

“This year they are way more competitive and going down there is never an easy game. They are talented, all the way through the line-up. It has all the makings to be a great Cup final.”

To buy tickets to the second leg of the National Cup Final between Leeds and Romford this Sunday (Feb 16) click HERE