Telford Tigers spot on to secure a ‘big win’

The Tigers remain unbeaten after four NIHL games and moved to within one point of early leaders Leeds Knights.

“Romford is a very tough place to go as they are a team who play extremely hard,” Tigers head coach Watkins said.

“They are very direct and well organised. That’s a big win on the road after a long travel day.

“We were made to work very hard and didn’t help ourselves turning a lot of pucks over in the defensive zone and neutral zone.

“With us having players returning and new players in the line-up, we are finding our feet and looking at different situations, which will take a little time for us to get comfortable with one another.

“But that was a fully committed, battling display.”

The Tigers fell behind inside the opening four minutes of the first period through Elliott Dewey.

However, they responded immediately in the second period when Fin Howells set-up Jesse Sutton for his first goal for the club.

Adam Laishram restored the Raiders’ lead after Vladimir Luka was called for hooking, although Telford drew level once again after Rhodes Mitchell-King teed-up Harry Ferguson to score.

Joe Aston set-up Lucas Price to fire Telford into the lead in the third period, although Jake Sylvester had the Raiders back on level terms just a minute later.

The Tigers gave away two penalties late on but still managed to send the game to overtime.

And the game was eventually decided by a penalty shoot-out, which the Tigers won to clinch the two points.

Sylvester, Nick Leyer and Aaron Connelly missed for the Raiders, and Howells scored the decisive penalty after Mikey Power struck wide.