Trousers go missing for Telford Tigers clash

Referee Richard Belfitt was caught short having left his padded officiating trousers at home, but was able to source a replacement pair after a 15-minute delay to the match.

Tigers coach Tom Watkins saw the funny side of the referee’s mishap, though he initially believed it was tactics instigated by the home side.

“I thought it was just more mind-games,” he said. “Peterborough had already delayed the start by five minutes with their warm-up, so I thought it was more of the same.

“Then as we waited a coach from Peterborough came and told us it had nothing to do with them and that the ref had forgotten his trousers.

“You often get delays. It’s one of those things, although it’s the first time in 30 years in ice hockey that I have seen anything like it.

“But ultimately there was no harm done and we all had a good laugh about it in the end.”

Watkins could afford a chuckle at the bizarre incident, but in spite of Tigers’ 8-6 win he was less than amused by his side’s performance after they almost threw away a commanding lead in their NIHL National League fixture.

“We leave the rink feeling very negative at our performance in the third period,” he said. “It was another game where we haven’t closed the game out the right way.

“What’s more annoying is that we played excellent hockey for 40 minutes and then collectively switched off in the third period.”

Watkins’ men raced into a 6-0 lead after Jason Silverthorn and Dominik Florian both bagged two goals, while Fin Howells and Scott McKenzie each grabbed one.

Phantom replied before Florian completed his hat-trick to make it 7-1, but then the visitors allowed the hosts to score four unanswered goals to bring it back to 7-5.

Tigers’ Brandon Whistle made the game safe with a strike late on, before an even later Phantoms consolation rounded off the scoring.

And although the win still leaves Tigers top of the table by five points, Watkins has fired a warning to his team that complacency will not be tolerated in future match-ups.

“I gave them the warning at the end of the second period the game wasn’t over,” he said. “I’ve seen it countless times over the years – the game is never over, they never quit. We need to smarten up in future.”