As a lifelong Raiders fan it was heartbreaking to see their heroic bid for National League play-off glory come up agonisingly short at Coventry.

A 5-4 defeat at the hands of regular season champions Leeds Knights - after falling three goals behind in the first 3.38 of play - was testament to their character.

But it left me - and no doubt many others - feeling it was a case of the one that got away.

Bottom of the pile in a nine-team division in 2021-22, after having points deducted for not fulfilling a fixture against Swindon due to a Covid outbreak in the squad don't forget, Raiders had hauled themselves up to the heady heights of sixth place in the enlarged 11-team group this time around.

Sean Easton's men chalked up 30 wins over the course of the 56-game league campaign and ensured their place in the post-season with plenty of time to spare, only to be paired with a Peterborough Phantoms side they had not managed to beat yet.

They conceded a late goal in a 4-3 home loss in the first leg, then found themselves three behind on aggregate in the return with only eight minutes left, before two late goals from Harry Gulliver forced overtime - and Matt Gomercic settled the issue with 49 seconds left.

That earned them a trip to Coventry for the first time since 2005 - the first year the English Premier League play-off finals were held, when they lost to Phantoms before beating Slough in the third-place play-off.

Only this time, their semi-final opponents were to be the defending champions Sheffield Steeldogs, who they had not managed to beat in regular time in five previous meetings this season either.

But they defied the odds once again to claim another dramatic victory.

Blaho Novak's first-period brace sandwiched a Lee Bonner powerplay goal, as Sheffield lost the influential Jason Hewitt to a match penalty for high sticks.

And young Tjay Anderson struck twice in the middle session, the second of them with a fine backhand finish past Dmitri Zimozdra, after Sheffield had struck twice in under a minute to edge 4-3 ahead.

The final period was as tense as could be, with chances at both ends and Raiders having to kill off a late penalty against Gulliver.

And the two sides looked set to go to overtime for the fourth time this season, when the predatory Alex Roberts pounced on a loose puck to win it with only 52 seconds left on the clock.

Leeds held off Telford by the odd goal in a 13-goal thriller in the later match and were clear favourites for the final, having won all five earlier meetings with Raiders by a whopping 34-7 aggregate, including a pair of shut outs.

And Raiders head coach Sean Easton - back on the bench after returning from World Championship duty with Great Britain U18s - might have been fearing the worst once again as the Knights flew out of the gates to take a firm grip on the game.

But a shellshocked Raiders gathered their thoughts during a timeout and pulled a goal back through the outstanding Gomercic soon after, only to then see Leeds score again on their first powerplay chance of the game.

Aaron Connolly scrambled a second before the gloves came off as Callum Wells clashed with Jordan Griffin.

And Raiders continued to show plenty of fight, cancelling out another Leeds powerplay goal in the second period with one of their own just over a minute later from Brandon Ayliffe.

The scoreline remained unchanged for nearly half an hour after that - but not for the want of trying as Raiders kept pushing.

Then Jake Sylvester, finally, turned home Novak's pass to make it a one-goal game with five minutes left.

I'm sure I wasn't the only person in the building wondering if they might actually pull it off at that point.

Sadly, it was one Great Escape too far as Leeds held onto their now slender lead in the face of late pressure, being outshot 43-28 on the night, and celebrated completing a double.

Raiders, meanwhile, had to settle for the runners-up medals this time in front of their loyal fans, but what a ride it had been.

They saved their best until the last weekend of the season and very nearly pulled off what would have been arguably the greatest achievement in the long history of ice hockey in Romford.

Great memories were made and great credit is due to all of the players who pulled on the jersey this season, Easton and assistant coach Ben Clements for overseeing the vast improvement in fortunes and all other off-ice team officials and volunteers.

Now we wait to see what the 2023-24 Raiders will look like and count down the weekends until our next fix at the Sapphire Ice & Leisure Centre in September.