'Too nice' Telford Tigers hit Bracknell low point

Telford Tigers player-coach Tom Watkins blasted his squad for being "too nice" in their crunch 6-1 loss against Bracknell, as the team suffered one of its lowest weekends, with an 8-2 defeat at Milton Keynes on Saturday.

"We should have approached that like a play-off game but we didn't perform like it was a play-off game," said Watkins.

"We did not play with any edge and we were too nice, as if we wanted to be everybody's friend.

"I am not asking anyone to go out there and try to injure the opposition, but we should make it that they know if they want to beat us at home, it's going to hurt them."

However, this time it was Tigers in pain as they found themselves 4-0 down after 20 minutes, conceding two within eight seconds courtesy of Bees import Jaroslav Cesky.

The agony continued into the second, as Bracknell added a further powerplay goal and Tigers began to run into penalty trouble.

Man of the match Scott McKenzie punished an error by the Bees goalie at 49:01, scoring shorthanded as Ambler failed to clear the puck and left his net open for the Tigers sniper. But that was the lone high point, as Bracknell wrapped up the game with a one-on-one breakaway in the final minute.

Afterwards Watkins said: "We conceded goals from our own mistakes.

"Easy goals drain you, and are so much harder to bounce back from. And as soon as we let some in early our heads went down and the team was visibly deflated.

"I have asked the guys if they are playing at their acceptable levels, and if not I want to know why. I think some people are coasting now and not making a difference. We need to be mentally tougher and meaner.

"That said, we did play some good hockey and created offensive chances, but we have to plug the gaps."

Sunday was a similar story as Lightning were 3-0 up by the end of the first, and added two more before Josh Bruce scored for Tigers for MK to take a 5-1 lead into the final session but, despite a goal from Joe Henry the game ended 8-2 to the home side.

Watkins summed it up, saying: "MK have a strong defence and everything they do builds from that. We were chasing all game and gave the puck away too much.

"Overall it was a poor weekend for us. We know what we are capable of some nights. The question is, can we do it consistently?"

The Tigers go on the road to Swindon this Thursday and have back-to-back games against Manchester at the weekend, with the home leg on Saturday (5.30pm) followed by a team race night event in the Ice Rink bar.

By Caroline Garbett