Telford Tigers’ player-coach Tom Watkins will need to hand out some lessons in self-belief before this weekend’s fixtures after they let a 3-0 lead slip at Swindon and were completely dominated by Basingstoke at home.

Saturday’s trip to Swindon – the teams’ third meeting in two weeks – saw Declan Ryan again the starting netminder as No 1 goalie Martin Clarkson continued his recovery from a groin strain.

And the game couldn’t have begun better, with Tigers going ahead in the first period through Andrejs Maslovskis.

The Latvian extended the lead in the middle session, with Ashley Stanton making it 3-0 going into the third.

But Wildcats altered their lines for the final period and, when Stanton was called for an accidental high sticks that drew blood, they pounced on the resulting five-minute powerplay to get back into the game.

From then on the momentum went all Swindon’s way and they went on to equalise then overhaul the Tigers, finishing 5-3.

Worse was to come with the arrival of Basingstoke Bison in Telford on Sunday.

The former Elite league side dropped down to the EPL last season – while Tigers were in mothballs – so this was a first meeting for the teams.

And it quickly became apparent how hard Tigers will find competing with established senior squads this season, as the experienced Bison took control.

Although Telford came out looking lively, and put in some superb set pieces in the early stages of the game, when Basingstoke scored on the powerplay at 8:52 and then added another goal just 44 seconds later, the Tigers’ tails drooped significantly.

From that point on Telford’s passing became just a little less assured, the positioning less confident as Basingstoke added three more unanswered goals in the second period before wrapping it up 6-0.

But Watkins again had praise for netminder Ryan, who faced more than 80 shots over the weekend.

He said: “Declan has been fantastic in all the games he’s played.

“I feel sorry for the kid because we are exposing him. There’s not been much he could do about any of the goals. It is our mental errors that are costing us goals.

“He’s a good lad, showing character. He is already an outstanding goalie and definitely has a bright future.

“His head’s not gone down. I’m sure he’s still enjoying being able to play, but he wants to win, the same as everybody else.”

On Saturday the team travels to much-fancied Slough Jets, with the newly-created Sheffield Steeldogs side visiting Telford Ice Rink on Sunday (5.30pm).