Sheffield Steeldogs remain on track to achieve triple aims as Leeds Knights look to get bodies back

Finish in the NIHL National top three at the end of the regular season. Tick.

Now all that Sheffield Steeldogs need to do to achieve all of their pre-season aims is to go on to reach the Final Four Playoff Weekend at Coventry. Maybe even go and win it.

Coming into the weekend no doubt still high from the euphoria of beating league champions Telford Tigers over two legs in the National Cup Final, the Steeldogs kept alive their hopes of ticking off their second aim for the season when they edged out Swindon Wildcats 4-3 in overtime on Friday night.

It meant they arrived at Elland Road to take on Yorkshire rivals Leeds last night, knowing a win in regulation would secure their desired top-three finish.

They did so in convincing style, shutting out the Knights for the first time all season, to leapfrog above their hosts by one point.

The Steeldogs were the more dominant team, so much so that the Knights mustered only three shots on goal in the second period – outshot 32-22 on the night.

It was the middle section where the damage was done in front of an impressive sell-out crowd of 2,037 the opening goal coming when good work between Jonathan Kirk and Jack Brammer set up Lee Bonner in the left circle to fire low past Sam Gospel’s left pad to open the scoring at 25.04.

The lead was doubled just over six minutes later when Lee Haywood fired through traffic past an unsighted Gospel and although Kieran Brown, Adam Barnes, Cole Shudra and Sam Zajac had decent chances, they couldn’t find a way past Dmitri Zimozdra.

The result sees Steeldogs go into a play-off group also housing runners-up Swindon Wildcats, along with Peterborough Phantoms and Basingstoke Bison, the Hampshire team providing the first opposition for Greg Wood’s team when they visit Ice Sheffield on Saturday before two face-off each other again down south the following night.

“We set certain goals at the start of the season,” said Wood. “One was to get to a Cup final, another was a top-three finish – now we want to make sure we reach the Final Four Weekend.”

Leeds – already missing veteran centre Matty Davies for the past three weekends with an upper-body injury - headed down to Basingstoke on Saturday also missing forwards Ethan Hehir and Joe Coulter, along with defenceman Ross Kennedy, all ruled out with illness.

Throw into the mix that young Archie Hazeldine was away with Great Britain Under-18s on international duty, it left head coach Ryan Aldridge down to the bare bones. A string of 11th-hour replacements were found, with forwards Alex Kent, from Hull Jets and Damarni James, from Bradford Bulldogs, stepping up two levels to be welcomed onto the team coach bound for Hampshire.

Along the way they picked up 16-year-old defenceman Jamie Smith, 16, who was making the step up from Swindon Wildcats 2.

Prior to that Aldridge had just six forwards and five D on his team sheet but they came back with two points, coming from two goals behind to win in overtime, temporarily moving back up to third.

Zack Milton and Alex Roberts gave the hosts a 2-0 lead, one that halved soon after the restart when Adam Barnes struck at 20.35.

That looked, despite matching the Bison blow for blow, as close as Leeds were going to get until Barnes doubled his tally at the perfect time with just 18 seconds left on the clock.

It was a goal worth waiting for, especially when Cole Shudra struck at 63.30 to earn a fully-deserved second point.