Leeds Knights 2 Sheffield Steeldogs 2: Nothing to choose between Yorkshire rivals in first leg of NIHL National Cup semi-finals

Ultimately, there was nothing to choose between Leeds Knights and Sheffield Steeldogs in the first leg of their NIHL National Cup semi-final, Jonathan Phillips’s power play strike with barely a second left on the clock completing an impressive comeback by the visitors having 2-0 down less than 10 minutes earlier.

The groans of the Leeds fans were drowned out by the cheering of the small band of Steeldogs followers tucked away in the far corner as their team celebrated below them.

The two will settle this tie at Ice Sheffield on New Year’s Eve and, on this evidence, there is no telling which of the them will be facing off against Romford Raiders in next month’s final.

Just under two months ago, the Ben Morgan’s team left West Yorkshire on the back of a 7-0 defeat in the league against Leeds, the Knights extending their winning run over their Yorkshire rivals to eight games with a 5-2 road victory two weeks later.

This time, the Steeldogs - Tom Barry and Charlie Thompson aside - were fully armed and it showed.

Both teams had early chances to score, Ivan Björkly-Nordström denied by a post for the visitors while Knights’ Mac Howlett was denied at the other end by Dan Norton after good work by Matt Haywood and Matt Bissonnette.

The Steeldogs edged the first in terms of chances, Brady Doxey will have been disappointed not to have tested Sam Gospel when well-placed eight yards out, while Sam Tremblay and Jonathan Kirk were both denied by the Leeds netminder from close-range.

Leeds enjoyed more authority in the second but it was Finlay Ulrick who almost broke the deadlock when trying to squeeze one in at Gospel’s near-post from the bottom of the left circle in the 32nd minute.

Björkly-Nordström shot high and wide when one-on-one with Gospel, with the puck bouncing kindly for Jordan Buesa who sped down the middle in the opposite direction before veering right and switching the puck back towards centre ice where Kieran Brown was waiting to fire home past Norton to break the deadlock at 37.39.

The Knights looked the most likely to score again in the opening exchanges of the third and got their rewards on the power play in the 52nd minute.

Matt Bissonnette fired through traffic and off the back boards and as Norton frantically tried to work out where the puck was, Haywood was first to react and poke it home from close in for a 2-0 lead.

But that cushion didn’t remain in place for long, the Steeldogs responding quickly through Elmeri Hällfors just 35 seconds later to halve the deficit.

It looked like Ryan Aldridge’s team would go into the second leg with their one-goal lead intact until six seconds from time when Noah McMullin was called for holding the stick.

The Steeldogs called a timeout, won the subsequent face off with the puck falling to Phillips who beat Gospel from 10 yards out with 0.6 seconds remaining to ensure the honours remained even at the halfway mark of this intriguing tie.