Tom Watkins: Telford Tigers need consistency

Having got their season up and running with a 2-1 triumph at Swindon Wildcats on Saturday, the Tigers followed that up later with a 6-3 reverse to Bison in front of their own fans.

And Watkins was left to rue the performance of his side – though there were reasons for optimism.

“After the positive performance against Swindon, the game on Sunday night was the polar opposite,” he said. “We lacked energy and any physical play. Our forwards passed up hits and were swinging sticks instead of making contact and finishing their checks.

“We made poor decisions on the puck, had no composure and as a team we were slow to get going. It wasn’t really until the second period that we established ourselves and when I felt like we got some momentum but we took far too many penalties.

“It all sounds very negative but we did create chances and dominated the play at times but I felt we were inconsistent as a group and Basingstoke fully deserved the win. It’s still very early days in the season.”

Basingstoke took charge with two goals in the closing minutes of the opening period and added a third in the second.

Captain Jason Silverthorn (two) and Austin Mitchell-King scored for the Tigers in a frantic final period, but it was too little, too late.