Shropshire Star

Telford Tigers face test of title credentials

Telford Tigers head coach Tom Watkins is preparing for the ‘biggest’ weekend of the team’s season as they look to take down another title challenger.

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After a five-game losing run, table-topping Tigers defeated National League rivals Swindon Wildcats last Saturday, before losing to Hull Pirates on Sunday – in back-to-back away games.

Second-placed Swindon also lost on Sunday, meaning Tigers remain top of the table by three points – but they now face third-placed Peterborough Phantoms tomorrow, who are on an 11-game winning run and Watkins is expecting it to be a crunch fixture in the title race.

“It’s the biggest weekend of our season, Peterborough are the form team at the moment, but we have a good record against them,” he said.

“It’s a tough league with good teams in it and at this stage of the season it’s just about picking up points.

“If we beat them, that’s probably them out of the running, so there’s a lot to play for.

“We have an opportunity here in a tough league.”

Tigers are at home to Peterborough before travelling to face Sheffield Steeldogs on Sunday, and after two away matches last weekend, Watkins is pleased to be back in Shropshire tomorrow.

“It’s tough to be on the road back-to-back, with the late nights and travelling,” he added.

“So it’s nice to be back at home, we should get a good crowd down and hopefully it will give us a fast start to the game. Teams are dropping points at the moment and our priority last week was beating Swindon and getting points against key teams.

“We have a terrible record with injuries and suspensions at the moment and our form is up and down because of it,

“There’s nothing we can do about that, we just need to get our heads down with the team we have.”