Tom Watkins: Telford Tigers’ troubles are in the mind

Tigers saw their losing run extend to five games with two defeats against Bracknell Bees over the weekend.

Sunday’s 3-2 overtime loss saw their lead at the top of the NIHL National League cut to two points as second-placed Swindon Wildcats defeated Basingstoke Bison 8-7.

Watkins said: “It was another disappointing result to round off a frustrating weekend.

“Earlier in the season these tight games were fixtures that we were picking up the points in.

“No matter the situation, we had that belief in the group that we would find a way to win and we pulled off some remarkable wins.

“Mentally we’re struggling at the moment, that winning habit has abandoned us with players struggling for confidence in key situations and making too many fundamental errors.

“We have to be more ruthless when we create quality chances. This is a good group of players that are hurting right now and need the support of the fans more than ever.”

Tigers were boosted by the return of Scott McKenzie and Brandon Whistle but lost Dan Mitchell after a fall early on.

The visitors had the first opportunity as Roman Malinik skated in on Brad Day’s goal but shot wide under pressure from Corey Goodison.

Tigers were given their first powerplay chance of the evening In the 15th minute when Brendan Baird was called for tripping Ricky Plant.

Tigers opened the scoring with a scrambled effort from Jason Silverthorn after good work behind the goal from Plant and McKenzie.

But the lead didn’t last long with Dominik Gabaj scoring from close range three minutes later.

Tigers responded brilliantly by immediately retaking the lead. Dominik Florian won a race to the puck with a defender and sent a pass for the onrushing Silverthorn to hammer the puck past Adam Goss.

Tigers lost the services of Thomas McKinnon midway through the second period. The Tigers defender checked Gabaj from behind, forcing him into the boards by the Bracknell bench.

This caused a reaction from Josh Martin, who was not on the ice. The Bracknell forward threw punches at McKinnon and a Bracknell player on the ice also dropped the gloves and went after McKinnon but the officials called a roughing penalty against Joe Aston.

The result was both McKinnon and Martin were ejected from the game and the Bees had a powerplay.

Whilst short-handed, Plant set up Jack Watkins but Goss made a superb sprawling save to deny him.

Goss continued to deny Tigers in the third period, making a terrific pad save from McKenzie’s shot and denying Whistle several times.

Tigers’ discipline let them down again when Ollie Lord gave away a blatant tripping penalty, giving Bracknell a powerplay chance 10 minutes into the period.

Bracknell worked a neat passing move between Zack Milton and Gabaj to set up Harvey Stead for a tap-in to equalise.

Tigers pushed for the winner and went close when McKenzie was free in the slot but he shot straight at Goss. Neither side could score, sending the game to sudden death overtime.

Tigers had plenty of possession but did not make it count and were caught out when a Florian shot went wide, bounced off the boards behind the goal and allowed Gabaj to break away.

Despite the desperate attempts of Goodison to get back in position, Gabaj was able to skate in on Day and slip the puck past him to win the game for Bracknell.