Dragons slayed by terrific Telford Tigers

Tigers were again without Jonathan Weaver but coach Tom Watkins added new back-up netminder Jonah Armstrong to the line-up while Deeside iced former Tigers fans’ favourite, Owen Bennett.

Both Jed Moreland and Dan Mitchell had good chances early on but both were denied by the Deeside net minder Graeme Bird.

The hosts’ dominance on Saturday finally paid off in the 12th minute whilst on a power play. Adam Jones’ blue line shot was tipped through the legs of Bird by Captain Jason Silverthorn to give Tigers the lead.

Just over a minute later Tigers scored again, Adam Taylor’s shot was blocked in front of the goal leaving Joe Miller with a simple tap in. Tigers got a third in the final minute of the period when Miller sent former Deeside coach Scott Mckenzie through on goal, who scored from a tight angle with a low wrist shot.

The second period saw Tigers score at will, with a fourth following in the 25th minute. McKenzie’s original shot was only partially stopped and Taylor was first to the rebound, tapping the puck home.

A fifth goal followed just 14 seconds later when Warren Tait set up Dan Mitchell to score with a wrist shot from the left circle.

A minute later, Tigers’ sixth goal came with Brodie Jesson setting up Silverthorn for his second of the night. Ricky Plant tipped Silverthorn’s pass into the net for the seventh and Tigers then changed their net minder, with Bell being replaced by Armstrong for the remainder of the game.

Jesson scored his first ever senior goal in the 31st minute from Tait’s pass to put the Tigers eight ahead but the home side were not finished there as Taylor spun 360 degrees to get away from a defender before firing a shot into the corner.

A 10th followed shortly after when Jack Watkins scored a back-handed wrist shot with the Deeside net minder out of position.

The period ended on a sour note for Tigers with Danny Rose cut through a high stick from Deeside’s Ross Kennedy, who received a five-minute match penalty and was ejected from the game.

Rose would not return for the third period, which saw goals from Deeside’s Simon Furnival and Tigers’ Dale White.

Watkins said: “The most important thing was the two points. We started slowly but went up a level in the second period with some solid goals. The pick of the bunch for me was Brodie Jesson’s goal.”