.Hull Seahawks keen to break through and smash NIHL National's top three 'monopoly'

Last season saw Leeds Knights, Milton Keynes Lightning and Peterborough Phantoms essentially camp out in the top three, the regular season crown being eventually claimed by Ryan Aldridge’s team with a couple of weeks to spare. A quick glance at the standings going into this weekend sees the same three teams leading the way.

Throughout his playing career, Davies was never one to shirk a challenge. Nothing has changed since he went full-time behind the bench.

The Seahawks come face-to-face with third-placed Peterborough and current leaders Milton Keynes this weekend, with Davies fully aware his fourth-placed team are well-positioned to make inroads into the top three.

A win in Peterborough on Saturday – where they won 6-5 on the opening night of the season – will take them above the Phantoms into third place. On Sunday, the Lightning – eight points ahead of Hull but having played four more games – make a second visit of the season to East Yorkshire, where they were defeated 4-3 on November 5.

“We’ve beaten Peterborough twice and they beat us once at our place a couple of weeks ago,” said Davies. “But we didn’t have Bobby Chamberlain, Dec Balmer and Lee Bonner in that game and that hurt us a little bit.

“We outshot them 60-30 and on any other night we would have beat them.

“It is another tough building to go into and try to come away with the points but I'm confident we can go in there and beat them.”

The Lighting host Sheffield Steeldogs on Saturday before heading to Hull. They go into the weekend having lost just once in their last six games - a feisty 6-3 loss at Leeds last Sunday.

Davies likes how his team matches up against the leaders.

“We’ve got a really good D-core - probably the best in the league in my opinion - and it is difficult for other teams to break us down,” added Davies. “That is key to beating teams like MK.

“I think they are stronger offensively than defensively and the way we are up front, being quite aggressive and with quite a hard-style game, I don’t think they particularly like that as much as other teams and, for me, that makes us match up well against them.

“But they are playing really well at the moment. It will be a real hard-fought game that one, but I think we’re up to the test.”