Last summer’s troubles look a distant memory as a glorious four-point weekend catapulted GM Telford Tigers to second in the English Premier League.

First, the Shropshire side triumphed 5-3 over Sheffield Scimitars at home, then followed it up with a superb 4-3 road win against defending league champions Guildford Flames.

Player-coach Claude Dumas picked up the man of the match award in Surrey, and immediately dedicated it to his squad.

“We are playing really well as a team right now,” said Dumas. “We got the win we deserved.

“It is never easy to come to Guildford and get two points, so we needed to focus for the full 60 minutes and that is what we did. The team played very well.”

Tigers went into the weekend missing suspended Ashley Stanton, injured Daniel Heslop, and unavailable captain Daniel Mackriel.

The remaining Tigers were bolstered at home by young goalie Josh Nicholls, and ENL forward Jim Corfield, but travelled to Surrey with only just lines.

“We had only 13 players in Guildford so we showed a lot of character to beat such a strong team,” added Dumas.

“They scored two of their goals on the powerplay, but all of ours were even-handed, so we were definitely the better team tonight five-on-five.”

Jason Cassells opened the scoring against Flames, jumping on his own rebounded shot at 2:02. Guildford equalised five-on-three and went into the lead early in the second period with another powerplay goal.

Dumas made it 2-2 just before the end of the second, Scott Williams put the visitors ahead midway through the final session and Marek Hornak made it 4-2.

Although Guildford piled on the pressure and clawed one back with just a couple of minutes left on the clock, Telford’s defence dug deep to hold on to the team’s first road win of the season.

Saturday saw Sheffield Scimitars in Telford for a re-match after winning 4-0 in Yorkshire a week ago.

The game was fraught with controversy – disputed goals and furious netminders adding to the tension at Telford Ice Rink – but the 5-3 final score delighted the noisy Tigers crowd.

After a tight and goal-dry first period, Jason Cassells opened the scoring at 23:16, assisted by Jake Armstrong and Marek Hornak.

Scimitars levelled at 31:33, but Cassells restored the lead a minute later.

Man of the match Gareth Owen made it 3-1, supported by Corfield and Armstrong at 35:50, but Sheffield struck late in the period to keep themselves in the game.

Tom Carlon scored midway through the final period, with Sheffield arguing for the goal to be washed due to high sticks.

Hornak flew up the ice for a breakaway goal with three minutes to go and, although Sheffield added one within the final minute, few doubted the dominant Tigers would run out winners.

Next weekend sees GM Telford Tigers at home to last week’s losers Romford Raiders on Saturday (5.30pm) and taking a well-deserved night off on Sunday.