BritLeague round-up

Second-from-bottom Ulster increased the gap between them and dead last Leicester Phantoms to four points when they beat Glasgow 1-0, with a 73rd-minute goal from Finnish international Janne Sykkanen.

While Bristol Pirates won 1-0 at home to Newcastle Geordies through a Jamie Ross strike in the 64th minute.

And finally Leeds Lightning won 1-0 at East Anglia Knights with an Adam Stockwell goal five minutes from time.

Leeds Lightning 2-1 Bristol Pirates

Leeds Lightning got off to a winning start against Bristol Pirates.

Goals

Leeds Lightning: Stockwell 47', Perry 81'.

Bristol Pirates: Blake 68'.

FC London 1-0 Lightning

Saturday 1st May

T-Mobile Stadium, London. Att: 47,483.

FC London left it late to beat fellow form team Leeds Lightning, 1-0.

Jeremy "Jezza" Constantinidis's 25-yard rocket left Lightning's American keeper Mike Foster bamboozled.

Scott Casey made a fine tackle from Adam Stockwell, and played a lovely through ball for Jezza, who controlled it with the outside of his right foot and in the next motion lobbed the ball over the Foster and into the net.

Goals

FC London: Jezza 87'.

Lightning: none.

Shamrocks 0-3 Lightning

Saturday 3rd April

RDS Arena, Dublin. Att: 8,594.

Leeds Lightning won in Dublin with a goal from Diego van den Struijk and two from Daniele Riviera.

Goals

Shamrocks: none.

Lightning: Riviera 34', 67', van den Struijk 78'.

Lightning 3-0 Dragons

Saturday 27th March

Elland Road, Leeds. Att: 24,069.

The Leeds Lightning stormed to a 3-0 win over the Dragons at Elland Road.

Rookie Chris Gay, Bobby Wood and Diego Van Den Struijk got the goals.

Goals

Lightning: Gay 44', Wood 76', van den Struijk 88'.

Dragons: none.

Pirates 0-1 Lightning

Saturday 13th March

Pirates Park, Bristol. Att: 13,367.

Lightning 3-0 Mighty Rats

Sunday 7th March

Elland Road, Leeds. Att: 32,047.

Leeds Lightning got their campaign off to a glorious start with a 3-0 over the Merseyside Mighty Rats at Elland Road.

The Lightning's new American defender Jimmy-Jack Perry only took five minutes to mark his debut with a goal, heading in Diego van den Struijk's free-kick.

Italian whiz-kid Dani Rivera, who has been linked with a move away from West Yorkshire, scored an impressive goal from just outside the 18-yard box to put Leeds 2-0 up after 25 minutes.

And van den Struijk was a nuisance for the Merseyside defence, and one of his crosses led to Rats right-back Colin Price putting it into his own net.

It was miserable afternoon for the Rats, only creating one real chance when Zak McCracken missed a sitter from five yards out.

Goals

Lightning: Perry 5', Rivera 25', Price 76' (o.g.).

Mighty Rats: none.

BritLeague launches respect scheme

The BritLeague has announced that it will launch a respect scheme for the upcoming 2010 season after witnessing several unsavoury incidents in 2009.

The League hopes the new scheme, called "Play the Game", will clamp down on violent incidents seen in '09.

This follows after last season's mass brawl in the Battle of Scotland between Edinburgh and Glasgow as well as the Yorkshire Derby between Leeds Lightning and Sheffield Strikers which saw seven players booked and four players sent off.

US star Perry completes Lightning move

Leeds Lightning have snapped up USA captain Jimmy-Jack Perry for £7million from Baltimore Blues.

The 27-year-old defender, who skippered the Blues to two US Premier League titles, has reportedly signed on a four-year deal with the Lightning and says he has fulfilled a lifelong dream of playing in England.

"This is dream come true for me, playing in the BritLeague," said Perry in his first press conference.

"Meeting the chairman, the manager and all my new team-mates for the first time was a big, big thrill."

As part of the deal, out of favour defender Jamie Hutchinson has been sent on loan to the Blues, who currently lead the US Premier League table.

Real Birmingham 2-0 Lightning

Saturday 17th May - MLF Round 10
Muller Park, Birmingham, England

Two top drawer goals from Ryan Roberts and Dan Doblado gave Real Birmingham a 2-0 win over the struggling Leeds Lightning.

Lightning 2-0 Fire

Saturday 10th May - MLF Round 9
Elland Road, Leeds, England

Goals from Daniele Rivera and David Tomlinson handed the Lightning an important win over their fellow strugglers Nottingham Fire.

Strikers 1-1 Lightning

Monday 5th May - MLF Round 8: The Yorkshire Derby
Hillsborough, Sheffield, England

Sheffield Strikers and Leeds Lightning drew 1-1 at Hillsborough.

Kevin Henderson put Sheffield in the lead before Danny Rivera equalized for the Lightning.

Handbags erupted at the final whistle and a riot between Strikers and Lightning fans soon occured.

Magic 3-0 Lightning

Saturday 3rd May - MLF Round 7
Boundary Park, Oldham, Lancashire, England

Lee Ching-Chong, Freddy Sanchez and Stephen Wilkins got the three goals that won the game for the Manchester Magic against Leeds Lightning.

Lightning 1-0 Strikers

Friday 25th April - MLF Round 6: The Yorkshire Derby
Elland Road, Leeds

Richie O'Brien's header won the game 1-0 for Leeds Lightning over their Yorkshire rivals Sheffield Strikers.

Mighty Mice 2-0 Lightning

Saturday 19th April - MLF Round 5
Triple M Stadium, Kirkby, Merseyside

Goals from Kevin Dunne and Erik Redwood gave the Merseyside Mighty Mice a two-nil victory over the Leeds Lightning.

Lightning 0-1 Geordies

Saturday 12th April - MLF Round 4
Valley Parade, Bradford, Yorkshire

Liam Cole's left-footed 40-yard free-kick and Steven Tweedy's unbelievable defending gave the Newcastle Geordies all the three points against the Leeds Lightning in Bradford.

MagiCole hit a powerful drive from long distance, that fooled Lightning keeper Mike Foster, who initially thought it was to be a cross.

The Brummie left-back's strike is certainly a Goal of the Month contender.

Steve Tweedy was electric at the back as he thwarted nearly every opportunity that the Lightning could muster.

And they created a lot of opportunities.

Judging by Steven Tweedy's performance today, if the Geordies played only him at the back, they could still keep a clean sheet.

Pirates 2-0 Lightning

Saturday 5th April - MLF Round 3
Pirates Park, Bristol

The Bristol Pirates saw off Leeds Lightning with 2-0 victory with goals from David Wright and rookie Andrew Powell.

Lightning 1-1 Ruckus

Tuesday 1st April - MLF Round 2
Elland Road, Leeds, Yorkshire

Leeds Lightning got a valuable draw against Reading Ruckus.

César Wurns-Herrera however put the Ruckus up 1-0 after 11 minutes after a horror defensive error by Richard O'Brien.

But Daniele Rivera's last minute equalizer gave the Lightning a precious point.

Knights 2-1 Lightning

Saturday 29th March - MLF First Kick
Carrow Road, Norwich

A Brian Nixon double saw East Anglia Knights beat Leeds Lightning 2-1.

Sean Jackson got the Lightning's consolation goal.