Bracknell Bees 2 Telford Tigers 4 - match report
Telford Tigers Head Coach Tom Watkins has hailed the performance of defenceman Marcus Maynard in Saturday night's 4-2 win over Bracknell Bees in the Red Hockey Cup.
Maynard was handed a role in Telford's forward line for the game at Slough Ice Rink, after a string of absences from the EPL champions' squad.
And Watkins was rewarded with a second period goal from the 28-year-old, as he helped to secure a winning start to the new campaign.
He said: "These games are all about the performance, how you execute your systems and getting into good habits. You need to approach each situation with discipline.
"I thought Marcus played really well for us as a forward. He was great along the boards and made some good hits on the defensive side of the puck.
"He scored a good goal and made a great play on another goal, so it was a strong performance from him."
Telford got off to an early start with a goal from Blaho Novak after just one minute on Saturday, although the hosts hit back moments later.
The second period saw The Tigers build a two-goal lead with strikes from Peter Szabo and Maynard, before Bracknell made it 3-2 ahead of the final session.
Novak, however, was on target to secure victory after 51 minutes, as Watkins' side continued their recent dominance over the Berkshire outfit.
"I think because we've got a lot of returning players, the guys knew what to expect," Watkins said.
"It's all about timing and there were a few things we could do better. They will get better after a week of training, and of course during tomorrow's game.
"It was a good workout and we identified a few things we can work on. All in all, I was pleased with how the guys played."
The Tigers return to action tomorrow evening, when they host Bracknell in the Red Hockey Cup at Telford Ice Rink (6pm).
Meanwhile, Jason Parry will repeat his "play for 60 minutes" mantra in training next week, after The Tigers NIHL beat Deeside Dragons 8-5 at Telford Ice Rink.
Saturday nights encounter was the first pre-season runout for both teams, with Telford facing the prospect of a tough season in the Moralee Conference.
But with a number of new singings making their mark most notably Simon Harrison and Philip Mulcahy the Telford assistant coach was happy to chalk up an early win.
He said: It was really good to get some minutes on legs and a lot of the lads played some decent ice time today. It was a good workout for them.
We were quite evenly matched at the start, but found a bit of rhythm in the second period. For me, that was the big difference tonight.
We always need to play for 60 minutes of a game and stay switched on mentally. That is something we will be working on during the week.
The first period saw Deeside take a surprise early lead after four minutes, before youngster Brad Betteridge hit back just 60 seconds later.
James Smith handed his side the advantage with a well-worked goal on 13 minutes, although the visitors drew level almost immediately.
The second session, however, was very much in Telfords favour, as Philip Mulcahy, Simon Harrison and Karol Jets built a 5-2 cushion for the hosts.
Deeside closed the gap to two goals on 48 minutes, before strikes from Matt Price and Betteridge put the result beyond doubt.
Two late goals from the Welshmen, and an excellent individual strike from Macaulay Heywood, rounded off a hard fought final period.
Parry added: I think we just switched off towards the end. It was more mental than fitness, and there is a lot we can improve on.
There were some great performances, especially from the new guys. A couple of lads played with the EPL team tonight, so it was a good overall performance.
The Tigers NIHL return to action next weekend, when they travel to Deeside for the return pre-season fixture.
