The Morley Glass Leeds Knights have a three-game weekend coming up that begins with welcoming the Swindon Wildcats to The Castle on Friday night before travelling to Sheffield on Saturday and Romford on Sunday.
It was a weekend on the road last week for a short-benched Knights side who travelled to take on league leaders Swindon on Friday before hitting the road again on Sunday to take on the Peterborough Phantoms.
But two difficult defeats haven’t knocked the confidence of Ryan Aldridge’s side with forward Oli Endicott looking ahead to the weekend saying: “Feeling good. We had a tough weekend just gone, but I think we’re ready to bounce back and start a bit of a push to finish the year strong.”
Whilst the away fixture last Friday might not have gone the way of the Knights, Endicott is confident the home support will make the difference this week: “Going there, we don’t have many fans - obviously it is quite a trek - but here, hopefully we’ll see out the building, get 2,000 people behind us. It’s like having a sixth guy on the ice. It’s really good.”
It’s an opportunity for the Knights to continue to collect points and battle hard to keep the pressure on the Sheffield Steeldogs who sit in second place on 58 points having played 42 games.
“Swindon at home; we’re looking to get something back on them after losing there,” said Endicott, “but they’re always great games and it’s always better at home because the fans are loud so get behind the team and hopefully, we can get some points.”
Speaking on the opposition, the 21-year-old said: “They’ve got a few good guys. All their imports are very good, good goaltending, but the new import Caden [Villegas], he’s pretty solid.
“He’s going to have a real impact on the league, so you have to take a look out for him.”
After taking on the Wildcats at home, it’s back-to-back road games again for the Knights, the first of which is against the Sheffield Steeldogs – our National Cup final opponents.
When asked if preparations or game plans change because of this, Endicott said: “No, I don’t think so. I think we just have to go there and play our game.
“We know we can beat them if we play to our level and just get a feel for their team again and take that into the Cup.”
