Tom Watkins: Telford Tigers haven’t played their best

Tigers were knocked out after losing 6-2 in Basingstoke on Saturday, making Sunday night’s home game against the same opposition a dead rubber.

But they did at least finish on a positive with a 4-3 victory thanks to a brace from Doug Clarkson – making his first home appearance since returning to the club – and goals from Andy McKinney and Jonathan Weaver.

Watkins said: “There was lots of anticipation in the stands with Doug’s return but with the delay to face off due to the rink side glass breaking I thought we lost some of the atmosphere.

“I was pleased for the guys on the ice. I thought we worked hard and showed good character coming from behind to snatch victory.

“We created some good chances but the puck didn’t fall for us until the third period and then we scored some timely goals. The stage was then set for the big man to secure the win with a laser of a shot into the top corner.

“We are disappointed to not progress to the next round, I think this team is better than we have shown in this competition and will be very tough to beat down the stretch.”

Tigers started the game brightly and opened the scoring in the sixth minute. Dan Mitchell broke clear and his initial shot was saved by netminder Daniel Weller-Evans. Mitchell controlled the puck from the rebound and made a perfect pass for Clarkson to fire home from close range.

Basingstoke responded well and within a minute were level. Richard Bordowski’s shot deflected off Tigers netminder Denis Bell’s stick and flew into the roof of the net.

At the start of the second period Weller-Evans mishandled the puck and almost presented Clarkson with an empty net to shoot into but he managed to scramble the puck away at the last second.

Jack Watkins went close for Tigers with Weller-Evans making a terrific glove save to deny him.

Basingstoke would make Tigers pay for their missed chances when Hallam Willson finished off a three-on-one breakaway in the 27th minute to give Bison the lead.

Shortly after, Tigers failed to clear their defensive zone and the puck broke to Alexander Sampford who scored with a precise finish to put Bison 3-1 ahead.

Tigers then had to kill off a five-on-three powerplay when Nick Oliver and Andy McKinney were both given penalties by referee Hamilton.

Clarkson was also given a 10 minute misconduct penalty. Tigers avoided conceding any further goals but ended the period trailing by two goals.

In the 44th minute, Basingstoke’s Michal Klejna was given a match penalty for spearing and ejected from the game, giving Tigers a fiive minute power play. Three minutes in, Tigers scored their second goal. Joe Aston found McKinney in space and he fired a wrist shot into the top corner.

As the game entered the final five minutes, Tigers pushed for the equaliser and were rewarded when Weaver burst in on goal and slid the puck between the legs of Weller-Evans into the net.

The game was then settled in the 59th minute with Clarkson scoring a late winner, his fourth goal of the weekend. Adam Taylor brilliantly set up Clarkson to slam the puck home from the right circle.