Telford Tigers maul Nottingham Lions in season finale

Having only arrived back in Shropshire at 2am on Sunday following Saturday night's victory at Solway Sharks, Tigers ended on a high as they prepare for play-off action.

Tigers, who already knew they would finish in third spot, were without Adam Taylor, Jordan Stokes, Nick Oliver and Dale White as well as under-18 players Jed Moreland, Brodie Jesson and Dan Mitchell.

But they opened the scoring in the second minute when Tom Watkins was sent through after neat passing by Jonathan Weaver and Jason Silverthorn. Watkins fired home with a wrist shot that went in off the bar.

Tigers added a second goal in the fifth minute when Watkins passed from behind the goal to the unmarked Warren Tait, who slammed the puck into the net. Tigers finished the period with a third goal, whilst on the power play, with Weaver’s shot from the blue line tipped in by Ricky Plant.

The hosts changed their netminder at the start of the second period with Jonah Armstrong replacing Denis Bell, but it was his opposite number – former Tiger Sam Gospel – who was the busier.

Gospel made a fantastic glove save from Silverthorn early on, but was unable to stop Corey Goodison’s shot from the left circle that flew into the net.

Jack Watkins made it 5-0 with a shot into the top corner before Silverthorn then found the unmarked Scott McKenzie, who made no mistake from close range.

The final goal of the period was then scored by Slovakian import Filip Supa, whose shot went through Gospel to make it 7-0.

Nottingham got on the scoresheet in the 42nd minute through Adam Andrews but Tigers hit back with their eighth goal from Silverthorn.

McKenzie added his second goal of the night after a scramble before he netted his hat-trick to make it 10-1.

Goodison netted in the 54th minute with a shot through the legs of Gospel but the visitors scored the final goal of the game in the 56th minute through Mark Levers.

After the game coach Tom Watkins was obviously thrilled by the performance:

“Tonight was all about trying to play with to some good habits and try to look ahead to the playoffs but in reality it was a little bit of a formality.”

"It was nice to see Sam Gospel this evening and I was pleased he got the acknowledgement from the Tigers crowd that he deserved.

"Sam really developed into an excellent net minder for this club and was integral in the teams success over recent seasons. He was very likeable member of our team and it was great to see him hanging out in our dressing room.

"We had a bit of banter before and during the game. He made some huge stops for them tonight.”

Tigers will now face Whitley Warriors over two legs in the quarter-finals of the NIHL North play-offs which start this weekend.