Leeds Knights: Coach Dave Whistle still confident of closing gap on NIHL National rivals

The weekend saw the Knights face off against the top two of Swindon Wildcats and Milton Keynes Lightning. Defeat to both, however, leaves the Knights rooted in fifth spot, 12 points adrift of second-placed Lightning, with Swindon in third a point behind.

Telford Tigers emerged as the new leaders of the pack after posting a four-point weekend, something Lightning matched with their 5-3 win at Elland Road on Sunday night.

Elsewhere, a 4-1 win at Raiders IHC for Sheffield Steeldogs puts them five points clear of Leeds having played a game more. The two are set to face each other twice in three days in just under two weeks’ time.

But while there was nothing but disappointment in terms of results at the weekend, Whistle is confident his young team - with 23 games remaining - are still very much in control of their own destiny.

“There are lots of games left yet and I believe we’re still in with a shout, 100 percent,” said Whistle. “Those top teams can be beating each other, losing here and there and you can soon find yourself heading back up the table. We’ll have to wait and see what happens, obviously, but, hopefully, things start improving for us on a regular basis.”

On his team’s defeat to the Lightning, Whistle felt his team were well placed to take something from the game, having established a 2-0 lead by the halfway point.

But Lightning halved the deficit before the end of the second period and then took control with three goals in the first eight minutes of the third period.

A second on the night for Kieran Brown gave them hope at 4-3 with just over 10 minutes remaining, but they could not find a way through again, Milton Keynes’ Leigh Jamieson ensuring his team went home with both points with a last-minute empty-netter.

“We should have come away with something against Milton Keynes,” added Whistle, whose team went down 4-1 at Swindon on Saturday night.

“We were winning 2-0, had good puck possession, had guys forechecking hard, working back pretty hard - it was looking good.

“But then the tide turned a little bit there. And you have to remember they have a good team, with some good scoring and they created some offence on their own because I felt we were playing quite well defensively.

“It was a shame when they got that couple of goals there at the start of the third - we just couldn’t quite find a way back.”