'Not good enough' - Leeds Knights blasted, first by Telford Tigers then coach Ryan Aldridge
AS opening nights go, it was a pretty forgettable one for three-time NIHL National champions Leeds Knights.
You only had to watch the post-match interview with head coach Ryan Aldridge to gauge how below-par the hosts were when sliding to a 7-4 defeat to Telford Tigers.
Four times the Knights got their noses ahead in front of their own fans on opening night at Elland Road Ice Arena on Saturday. Four times they allowed the visitors back into the game, the final time proving one too many as Telford scored four unanswered goals to run out deserved winners.
There were some positives to be taken from the evening, goals for imports Liam Peyton and Arturs Mickevics, plus a three-point night for fellow newcomer Balint Pakozdi.
But they were small crumbs of comfort, as Aldridge made clear shortly after the final buzzer.
“We weren’t good enough,” he blasted ahead of Sunday night’s trip to Peterborough Phantoms. “We played immature hockey, I think, in lots of areas. Every time we scored, we allowed an easy goal.
“We’d talked a lot this week, or the last couple of games, about our D trying to play goaltender but it was the same again tonight - Gossy didn’t really have much hope of stopping the pucks when the D are in the crease.
“There were lots of frustrating things and I’m not a happy chap. I think it’s just mental errors, silly errors, selfish errors - we’re trying to do too much instead of just playing it simple.”
Peyton bagged his first competitive goal of the season with 18.22 on the clock, only to see Telford pull level just over a minute later through Louie Newell. It was a pattern that continued all night.
Captain Kieran Brown got on the board in the 33rd minute but his effort was cancelled out within 37 seconds by James Smith.
Mac Howlett struck at 38.01 but any hope the Knights had of taking a lead into the second intermission disappeared when former forward Tate Shudra equalised at 39.59.
Latvian forward Mickevics opened his account 68 seconds into the third and, unusually, the Knights were able to hold on the lead for longer than usual.
But once Joseph Aston pulled the visitors level for a fourth time at 49.13, there was only one winner - Brynley Capps scoring a fine individual goal four minutes later before Shudra and Scott McKenize increased the agony for their hosts.