Telford Tigers player-coach Tom Watkins has declared himself satisfied with his team’s opening weekend – despite a home stumble after an on-the-road draw.

The newly-reformed Tigers drew 4-4 at Swindon Wildcats before being beaten 5-3 by the same opponents in a second challenge game in front of a large and appreciative home crowd.

“I think we have to take a lot of positives out of the weekend,” said Watkins.

“We out-shot Swindon in both games. We had some really good scoring opportunities which unfortunately we didn’t capitalise on.”

Tigers took the lead at Swindon through Joe Henry and Marek Hornak but Wildcats narrowed the gap to 2-1 by the end of the first period.

Chris Allen extended Telford’s lead early in the middle session and it stayed 3-1 up until 42:52 when Swindon began their fightback by making it 3-2.

Man of the match Hornak restored the two-goal buffer but Wildcats scored soon after and pulled their netminder in the last minute and grabbed the equaliser.

The teams were again very evenly-matched in the return in Telford on Sunday, with a goalless first period.

Swindon broke the deadlock with a quick double strike early in the second, but Canadian Chris Allen reduced the deficit with a booming powerplay slapshot from his blue line at 38:11.

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Dan Scott levelled for Tigers at the start of the third period, but Swindon again moved ahead with two quickfire goals.

Tigers capitalised on a powerplay to pull goalie Declan Ryan and the two-man advantage worked a dream when Watkins’ inch-perfect pass met Andrejs Maslovskis’ stick as the Latvian powered towards the net to score at 59:39.

However, Tigers’ hopes were shortlived as a defensive hiccup saw Swindon put the puck into the empty net with just 10 seconds left on the clock to make it 5-3.

Sunday’s man of the match Scott McKenzie reflected: “I think people under-estimate us.

“We all know we have the ability as a team. In both games we out-shot them, which I think tells a story.

“Most of the players are not from the EPL, so it’s not really sunk in how big a deal it is that there wasn’t a team last year.

“But I’m sure the fans will let us know they appreciate the effort because the boys have been outstanding this weekend. The effort has been second to none.”

By CAROLINE GARBETT