GM Telford Tigers’ English Premier Cup hopes were stung as they went 4-1 down to Bracknell Bees, who will now take the last semi-final slot.

That defeat was the second of the weekend to the Bees, who ran out 3-2 winners in Telford on Saturday – not least because of a controversial goal after just 62 seconds.

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Allowed by the referee as a powerplay goal, the call was disputed by Tigers having been gloved into the net. But the score stood and Telford spent too long worrying about that and not playing at their best.

After a lacklustre first period, enlivened only by a Sam Zajac fight, the score stayed 1-0 until 34:37 when Daniel Mackriel roofed the puck for an equalising powerplay goal, assisted by James Knight and Tom Carlon. 

Unfortunately Bees struck back almost immediately, scoring  while defenceman Stuart Bates was still shaking his head clear from a big hit into the boards.

Bracknell stretched it to 3-1 early in the third, but Tigers didn’t give up.

Marek Hornak scored a beautiful shorthanded goal, supported by Claude Dumas, at 56:01.

Telford pressed hard for the remainder of the game, fighting to the very last second, and pulling netminder Davey Lawrence in the hope of the last-gasp equaliser that never came.

Afterwards, man of the match Daniel Mackriel said: “We didn’t come out as hard and intense as we should have done at home.

“Bracknell are a good side, but they also work hard. We didn’t match that work rate in  the first period.

“We should have set the tempo and made them chase us. I think that’s why we suffered throughout, always playing catch-up.

“The first goal did deflate us, there is no denying that. But those things happen in hockey and you have to pick yourself back up. We didn’t do that quickly enough.”

Sunday’s road trip to Bracknell saw the game played for League and Cup points, but with Tigers still awaiting their replacement for import Jason Cassells, it was always going to be a big ask for the Shropshire lads.

Bracknell were buoyed by the addition of new Finnish forward Matti Hietakangas, who impressed on his debut in Telford on Saturday.

Bracknell again took a 1-0 lead in the first period, then added two powerplay goals in the middle session. Marek Hornak scored towards the end of the period to make it 3-1 going into the third, but the tiring Tigers ran into penalty problems, allowing Bees to add a further powerplay goal and all they needed to do then was play a tight, defensive game to the final buzzer and go through to the Premier Cup semi.

Coach Claude Dumas said: “We never gave up, but it was a tight game and we gave away too many penalties. As with Saturday’s game, they took the lead and the momentum.

“We are trying hard, but missing that spark. 

“As a whole the team played well, but we did run out of steam towards the end.”

By CAROLINE GARBETT