LEEDS KNIGHTS quickly found a return to winning ways by gaining swift revenge over Peterborough Phantoms at The Castle on Sunday night. 


A double from Finley Bradon - taking his tally for the season to 12 - came after a second-minute opener from defenceman Noah McMullin, the only blot on ‘Country Night’ being a 59th-minute reply from Duncan Speirs which ruined Sam Gospel’s hopes of a shutout. 


In front of another bumper crowd of over 1,600, it was the perfect response from Ryan Aldridge’s team given their 6-2 defeat on the road at Milton Keynes Lightning the previous night.


That defeat enabled the Lightning to replace Leeds at the top of the standings, a position they retained after they came out on top in a shootout to edge out Berkshire Bees 4-3 on Sunday. 


It means there is just one point between the two teams ahead of next weekend, when the Knights only have the one game at home to Telford on Saturday (face-off 6.30pm). 


The Knights got off to the perfect start against the Phantoms - who had beaten them 6-4 the previous Sunday in Peterborough - when McMullin fired past Hayden Lavigne with just 79 seconds gone. 


It was then the turn of Bradon to provide further proof of why he was - recently called up for GB Under-20s for the World Championships in Croatia in January, doubling the Knights lead at 11.56. 


In the second period, the Knights heroically killed off almost 90 seconds of a 5-on-3 and got their reward a few minutes later when, on a power play of their own, Bradon made it 3-0 just 45 seconds shy of the halfway point. 


It was more than enough, a relatively quiet third period almost being seen out until Spiers ended Gospel’s hopes of a second shut-out of the season with only 76 seconds remaining. 


After a goalless first period in Milton Keynes the night before, there was everything to play for, particularly when Matt Haywood’s 25th-minute strike cancelled out Ross Venus’s opener for the hosts three minutes earlier. 


But a quick reply from Callum Field gave the Lightning a lead they held on to thereafter, the first five minutes of the third period effectively seeing the game ended when two strikes from Cory McEwen put them 4-1 ahead. 


Former Knights’ two-way forward Mack Stewart increased the advantage to four goals at 53.04 and even though Matt Barron was able to reduce that on the power play just over three minutes later, that was close as the Knights got, their misery completed when Milique Martelly scored an empty-netter to add some gloss to the scoreline for the hosts.