Hull Seahawks leading the way in NIHL National with Leeds Knights and Sheffield Steeldogs in hot pursuit

Emil Svec proved a match-winner for the hosts as he posted two goals and an assist, with fellow import forward Bobby Young and the ever-impressive Finlay Ulrick getting on the board.

But Davies felt his team made hard work for themselves, having gone 3-1 up before the halfway mark, only to allow Peterborough a way back into the game.

“You’re always happy with a win and I’m buzzing for the lads at the end,” said Davies. “But I think we made it difficult for ourselves, we had the majority of the play and they had some good chances as well.

“But I’m not satisfied with the performance overall, I feel like we’ve got a lot more in there and they (the players) know that as well, they are not overly happy with the performance but you can always be happy with a win.”

Seahawks return to the top was aided by a 4-2 home defeat for Leeds Knights, who coach Ryan Aldridge said simply were “not good enough” against visitors Swindon Wildcats.

Former GB international Russ Cowley got the ball rolling for the visitors at 4.23 and before the Knights had a chance to gather their thoughts, they found themselves 2-0 behind through a Colby Tower strike just 98 seconds later.

Aaron Nell’s power play strike at 26.42 piled on the agony and was followed just 35 seconds later by a Chris Jones marker.

Although Brown was quick to respond and get his team on the board at 29.19, it wasn’t until there were less than four minutes remaining that the Knights were able to reduce the deficit further through Howlett.

“We weren’t good enough,” said Aldridge, “We weren’t good enough last Saturday night (in defeat at Milton Keynes) but came out on the Sunday and got the reaction we wanted.

“Here, we weren’t good enough again. We started slow, gave too many odd-man rushes away, too many turnovers.

“We’ve got to show up every night and fans don;t pay to come and watch that, that’s for sure.”

Sheffield Steeldogs made it two wins in a row when they edged out Telford Tigers in a keenly-contested encounter at Ice Sheffield.

Lucas Price had got the Tigers on the board at 10.02 thanks to an assist from former Steeldogs’ forward Louie Newell and that was how it remained until just after the halfway mark when player-coach Jason Hewitt bagged his first of the season.

Debutant defenceman Sam Cooper marked his introduction to the team in the best possible way when he fired home to put them ahead just 47 seconds later at 31.30, but the Tigers were level going into the second break through former team-mate Vladimir Luka’s 35th-minute strike on the power play.

It was nip and tuck throughout the final 20 but the crucial moment came at51.39 when Jonathan Phillips struck on the power play for a goal which proved just enough to secure two vital points ahead of Sunday’s visit to Leeds Knights.

“It’s always nice to get two points and I thought there were some fantastic individual performances tonight,” said Steeldogs’ experienced defenceman, Ben Morgan.

“Dima (Zimozdra) was fantastic between the pipes, it was a good debut from Sam Cooper and I thought Tate Shiudra was brilliant when he stepped up on that first line - he didn’t look out of place at all and he’s a really undervalued and underestimated player.

“Collectively I felt we were good for the win tonight.”

Saturday night results: Hull Seahawks 4 Peterborough Phantoms 3, Leeds Knights 2 Swindon Wildcats 4, Milton Keynes Lightning 6 Bristol Pitbulls 0, Sheffield Steeldogs 3 Telford Tigers 2, Solway Sharks 5 Raiders IHC 2. Friday: Raiders IHC 1 Bees IHC 5.