NIHL National - Why Sunday was a good night for Hull Seahawks, Sheffield Steeldogs and Leeds Knights

Having insisted his team still had a chance of getting back into the NIHL National title race, Davies was ideally looking for a maximum four-point haul from games against the top two of Milton Keynes Lightning and Swindon Wildcats.

In the end, Davies and his players had to settle for three but, overall, an important point was proved.

“It’s a long way back” admitted Davies, his team still 12 points adrift of leaders Milton Keynes with a game in hand. “I was never claiming that we were going to win anything, it was just me saying: ‘don’t forget that we’re here and that there are four teams’ - I think this weekend has proved that we’re right in there still.”

Having seen a 3-1 lead disappear in Milton Keynes on Saturday - beaten 4-3 in overtime - it looked like the Seahawks were set for more disappointment at home against Swindon before staging a comeback of their own when trailing by the same margin.

The winner - the puck forced home from close range by Emil Svec with just 33 seconds remaining - almost lifted the roof off Hull Ice Arena in a 4-3 win.

“We stayed with it and character this year is something the boys have got in abundance, they’re just like dogs and they want to keep going,” added Davies.

“We’ve just got some real momentum at the minute, the boys are confident and we’re playing some good stuff. It was also nice for the fans because they got to share that emotion at the end.”

There was also a positive end to the weekend for Sheffield Steeldogs, bouncing back from a 4-3 loss in Swindon with a 6-4 win at Romford Raiders.

First-period goals from Sam Trenblay (2) and Walker Sommer put the Steeldogs firmly in control, something they retained when they went in 5-1 to the good after Sommer completed his hat-trick in the second period.

But goals from TJay Anderson, Shawn Miler and Jake Sylvester made it a one-goal game with 34 seconds remaining, before Elmeri Hällfors fired into the empty net to seal the points.

Leeds Knights moved back into seconsd spot after following up Saturday’s 7-0 road win over Bristol Pitbulls with a 6-1 triumph on home ice against the same opponents.

Jordan Buesa, Matt Haywood and Kieran Brown got on the board in the first period and after Bayley Harewood replied shortly after the halfway mark, goals from Mac Howlett and Ethan Hehir enhanced the Knights’ lead ahead of the second intermission.

Brown then rounded off a deserved win with his second of the night at 44.07.