Sunday hurts for Hull Pirates, Sheffield Steeldogs and Leeds Chiefs in NIHL National

TARGET: Bobby Chamberlain was on target in Telford but it couldn't prevent a 5-3 defeat for Hull. Picture courtesy of Tony Sargent.

Buoyed by their excellent 6-2 win at home against Leeds Chiefs on Saturday, Hull Pirates came unstuck at second-placed Telford Tigers 24 hours later.

The damage was done in the first 30 minutes, the Pirates finding themselves 4-0 down after first period strikes from Scott McKenzie and Jed Moreland (2) were added to by the former's own second of the night at 30.36.

The Pirates rallied through a 37th-minute power play strike from Bobby Chamberlain and roared back into contention when they made it 4-3 with two strikes in as many minutes early in the third from Sam Towner and Lee Bonner.

ON TARGET: James Spurr was on target for Sheffield Steeldogs, but it was Milton Keynes who emerged victorious on Sundat at Ice Sheffield. Picture courtesy of Cerys Molloy.

But as they pressed for the equaliser to take the game into overtime, Dominik Florian gave the Tigers the insurance they required to make it 5-3, Tom Watkins's side avenging the one-goal defeat they suffered in East Yorkshire the previous weekend.

Leeds slipped to their fourth straight defeat when they went down 4-1 at 'home' to leaders Swindon Wildcats, who stretched their winning streak to 10 games and are three points clear of Telford.

Hosting the game at Widnes while they wait for their Elland Road rink to be completed, the Chiefs fell behind at 11.44 to an Edgars Bebris effort but were a good match for Aaron Nell's team until the last two minutes of the second period when the game slipped away from them by conceding two goals in 37 seconds.

Chris Jones doubled the visitors' lead at 38.12, quickly followed by Sam Godfrey's effort.

ON TARGET: Radek Meidl was on target for Leeds Chiefs in Widnes against leaders Swindon. Picture courtesy of Tony Sargent.

The Chiefs gave themselves slim hope of a fightback when Radek Meidl ended his short goal drought at 48.39 but, just under four minutes later, Luc Johnson made the points safe, with the hosts now three points adrift at the bottom of the standings.

Sheffield Steeldogs went into last night’s encounter at home to second-bottom Milton Keynes Lightning after an impressive 5-3 win at Raiders IHC the previous evening.

But a four-point weekend proved elusive as the visitors moved into the play-off positions with a 3-1 win, building on their 7-2 hammering of Bracknell the previous evening.

James Spurr got on the board for the hosts at 12.17 to cancel out new signing Liam Stewart's opener, but the former GB international doubled his tally for the evening in the 36th minute.

Then, as the Steeldogs chased the game and pulled Dimitri Zimozdra from net, they were denied a chance to take the game into overtime when Tomas Kana struck an empty-netter to seal the points.