Shropshire Star

Telford Tigers bring their best as legend Chuck Taylor is honoured

Telford Tigers head coach Tom Watkins was delighted with his side’s performance on a night they honoured club legend Chuck Taylor.

Published

The Tigers retired the shirt of Taylor on the same night they defeated Basingstoke Bison 3-0 for their first win in the NIHL National League this season.

Thomas McKinnon, Austin Mitchell-King and Jack Watkins got the goals for Tigers on a night they shut out their opponents.

Coach Watkins said: “What a good night, I’m delighted to get the win, very pleased to do it with a shutout and of course to win on the night when we were retiring the shirt of Chuck Taylor was very fitting.

“I’m not going to lie, I wasn’t happy at the end of the first period, I challenged the players to execute on and off the puck to a higher standard, I expected more as defensively we were soft and our puck management was non existent.

“To the credit of the players they responded very positively. In the second and third period I couldn’t fault the boys, they showed great attitude, work ethic and fully deserved the shut out and win.

“It was also fantastic to welcome Chuck and his family this evening, to see so many of his team-mates and friends.

“It was a great night and I really enjoyed reliving plenty of old memories from a number of Tigers legends.”

Tigers were still missing three of their most experienced players with Jonathan Weaver, Andy McKinney and Scott McKenzie all unavailable.

Despite their recent disappointing form, Tigers could not have asked for a better start to the game.

Within the first two minutes they had the lead when Sam Watkins sent a shot in on Alex Mettam in the Basingstoke goal, which the net minder could only parry as far as McKinnon, who slammed the puck into the net.

With Tigers catching Basingstoke cold, they failed to build on this and saw Basingstoke miss chance after chance. The visitors’ best chance of the period came when Danny Rose attempted a pass across goal and sent it straight to the unmarked George Norcliffe, who somehow lifted his shot over the goal and out of play.

Tigers looked a different team in the second period and deservedly extended their lead in the 32nd minute.

Jason Silverthorn and Ricky Plant threw numerous shots at goal, with Mettam making a number of saves before Mitchell-King picked up the rebound wide on the right and calmly sent the puck along the ice into the bottom left-hand corner.

Tigers continued to dominate the game in the third period and sealed the win when Jack Watkins and Deakan Fielder led a breakaway for the former to hammer the puck low to Mettam’s right and into the net.

Brad Day in the Tigers goal achieved his first shut-out of the year, saving all 28 Basingstoke shots.