Telford Tigers put the bite on title chasers
TRS Telford Tigers player-coach Tom Watkins believes his side have answered their critics with a 4-1 win over EPL title-chasers Manchester Phoenix.
A fortnight of departures has seen Telford lose imports Jaroslav Cesky and Tomas Fojtik in controversial circumstances, while Joe Henry was sacked.
Saturday saw Telford go down 4-2 at Swindon Wildcats – meaning the visit of 2010 champions Manchester held few hopes of a first win of the weekend.
But a hugely impressive performance from Watkins's men on Sunday turned around a three-game losing streak.
He said: "It was a character win. I'm not sure why, but there has been a little bit of negativity over the last few weeks and the guys start questioning themselves.
"That makes the game harder but we can't get involved in what people say about the team. The guys are working hard, and are coming off the ice with ice packs on their wrists and legs, that is the passion I'm looking for off the team."
Jaroslav Kruzic and Luke Brittle were on the mark against Swindon, while Callum Bowley, Tim Burrows, Elliot Knell and Brittle once more struck against Manchester.
A goals against total of just five over the weekend was just reward for a rear-guard that has lost the 6'5" presence of defenceman Fojtik.
Watkins believes his side possess enough size to manage without the now-departed Czech.
He added: "We had the most hits we have had all season and that is what we want.
"We can skate well and we have a lot of big bodies on the team. There is no reason why we can't put the body around.
"We just have to make sure we put the puck in the right places and we did that on this occasion.
"Manchester worked hard and they are a quality team. They put us under a lot of pressure and, perhaps, on another day it would have been a different story, but Declan was big, our defence was really strong , and we kept things to the outside.
"Sometimes you ride your luck like that and it was a big, big win for us."
The win moves Telford closer to overhauling second-bottom side Sheffield Steeldogs.
The gap is now seven points, although Telford still have a number of games in hand.
Next weekend sees the Tigers travel to Sheffield Steeldogs on Saturday, before the visit of Milton Keynes Lightning on Sunday.
