Leeds Knights: Why Sam Zajac believes reaching Autumn Cup Final can generate feelgood factor

Against the odds – largely because of how short on bodies they were across the two legs – they came out on top of Yorkshire rivals Sheffield Steeldogs, edging a 6-5 thriller on the night to secure a 9-7 overall win on aggregate having won the first leg 3-1 in Sheffield 48 hours earlier.

That first win ended the Knights’ five-game losing streak. The second triumph showed they are a team determined to make their mark this season. Whatever it takes.

Okay, so the following night might have seen them slip to a sixth straight defeat in the league – a reverse which, combined with the weekend’s other results elsewhere, leaves them second-bottom in the standings.

But it still ranks as an impressive achievement by the organisation to reach the final of a competition offering the first piece of silverware available in the second tier this season.

Whether it is Swindon Wildcats or Telford Tigers they find themselves lining up against next month, captain Sam Zajac and his team are not too fussed. They are just glad to be there.

“It was a great achievement beating Sheffield like we did,” said Zajac. “They are obviously a great team, have a lot of depth and we were missing a lot of key guys – we still are – so, for me, that semi-final showed a lot of character and proved how much we wanted that win.

“Against a local rival like Sheffield, it meant that much more. If I’m honest, it was one of the best feelings I’ve experienced in a locker room afterwards. We’ve wanted that feeling for the past few weeks and we’ve been really disappointed in ourselves, the way we’ve been playing and the results, so we were hungry for that.

“The boys were ecstatic afterwards and rightly so.”

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While Zajac is understandably keen for the Knights to correct their league form as quickly as possible, he believes the distraction of the Autumn Cup final will only help create a good vibe around the club.

“It definitely creates that feel-good atmosphere around the place,” he added. “We’re going to make sure we give a good account of ourselves and, hopefully, we’ll have some more bodies back and we’ll have a right good go at it.

“To be honest, it’s six and two threes for us to be honest, we’re not fussed whether it is Swindon or Telford – either way, it is going to be a tough final.”

Knights’ teenage defenceman Archie Hazeldine got his reward for his impressive start to the season after being called up to play in the Elite League on a two-way deal with Manchester Storm against Nottingham Panthers last night.

Storm won 7-3 at Altrincham, with the 17-year-old Knights blue liner bagging an assist, with Knights’ two-way Ben Solder also in the line-up and two-way forward Harry Gulliver scoring a power play goal.