Video: Telford Tigers keep up the good work

Watkins' men maintained eight-point lead in the English Premier League with victory against Peterborough Phantoms on Sunday, writes James Shaw.

Tigers' 7-4 success at home to the East Midlands outfit was their eighth consecutive victory in Shropshire.

It was another weekend double for the Tigers – they demolished NIHL side Solway Sharks 12-1 in the British Challenge Cup on Saturday, upping the pressure on northern leaders Manchester.

But with vital EPL points at stake against Peterborough, Watkins was most satisfied to have secured another league win for his title-chasing side.

He said: "I don't think we were at our best, and Peterborough got a couple of lucky goals that we wouldn't normally expect to give away.

"Whether it was the long trip to Solway, or the fact that we had to adjust to a different pace tonight, I am not sure.

"But I am pleased with the way we dealt with that later on and put the game to bed."

Peterborough took an early lead in the first period, although Joe Miller equalised ahead of the break.

The second session produced further goals from Max Birbraer, Miller and Jason Silverthorn, laying the groundwork for 4-2 advantage at the final interval.

And in the third period, Scott McKenzie, Silverthorn and Peter Szabo were on target to cement a 7-4 win.

Watkins said: "In many ways it wasn't a really bad performance, but I think we can get a lot better.

"We made some mistakes on the puck, but it was our play off the puck that frustrated me. We've got to realise that we won't have it all our own way all of the time.

"I am happy we managed to come away with the points."

Saturday night's trip to Solway was more one-sided affair, with goals from Blaho Novak (4), Peter Szabo (3), Nathan Salem, Dan Davies, Joe Miller, Martin Ondrej and Rick Plant securing victory.

The Tigers return to action when they make the trip to Basingstoke Bison on Saturday, before Sunday's visit of Manchester Phoenix.

Telford Tigers NIHL will be ordered to use Sunday's defeat against Widnes Wild as a wake-up call, as they come to terms with only their second loss of the season.

A sluggish start from Telford saw them fall 2-0 behind within the first ten minutes at Silver Blades in Widnes, following a 5-0 win over Sheffield Senators the night before.

Goals from Brad Betteridge and James Smith sparked a mini recovery from The Tigers, although they were unable to stop their hosts securing victory with a third strike.

Assistant coach Jason Parry expects his players to learn valuable lessons from that loss – especially the consequences of a slow opening period.

He said: "It was our bad start that did most of the damage. They came out hard, but we just went to sleep.

"We could have been more than 2-0 down, and it just took us too long to get started. Hopefully, this will serve as a wake-up call for the players.

"It was definitely a useful experience for the young guys. They will be annoyed with themselves now, but we play Widnes against next week. That gives us a chance to put things right straight away."

On Saturday night, meanwhile, Telford were on top throughout, thanks to goals from Smith (2), Karol Jets (2) and Betteridge.

Parry added: "We put our chances away when we got them against Sheffield and were hard to break down. The fact that we shut them down for six periods in a row is a massive achievement.

"We have been working on systems where we are tight as a unit, and not conceding for that long is almost as good as the two points.

"It shows our players are listening and executing what we tell them to."

This weekend sees the Tigers NIHL make another trip to face Widnes, again on Sunday night.