Double defeat for Telford Tigers
Telford Tigers are still looking for their first win of the season following a frustrating weekend which resulted in a 5-1 loss away to Swindon and a narrow 3-2 loss at home to Basingstoke Bison.
Saturday's away trip to Swindon saw an even first period with both teams taking the game to each other in an end to end game. Sandvik opening the scoring for the Wildcats just after the half hour, before Adam Taylor pulled Tigers level five minutes later.
Both teams looked to push for the win as an even contest continued until Swindon scored 4 quick unanswered goals as the game moved into the final ten minutes, leaving Tigers disappointed and frustrated at the final whistle.
Sunday's home game against the Bison saw a tough physical battle with Tigers matching their opponents from the start in an increasingly feisty game. The first period ended goalless with both netminders in good form.
Bison opened the scoring through Joe Greener four minutes into the second period, with an assist from former Tiger Tomas Karpov. Nicky Chinn doubled Bison's lead midway through the second period, to see Bison start the final period with a two nil lead.
Tigers Michel Pavlu pulled a goal back early in the third period, both teams upping their physical approach as a number of players spent time in the penalty box. Greener restored Bison's two goal advantage with a shorthanded breakaway goal with five minutes remaining on the game, but Tigers weren't finished and pressured the Bison net with a succession of chances before Callum Bowley scored their second goal with just over a minute to go.
Bison held out to take the win and the aggressive nature of the game continued after the final whistle with a frank exchange of views between a number of players on both sides in the end of game handshake. After the Bison game, Tigers player coach Watkins said "I thought we deserved to win, I don't say that often when we've lost but I thought we played well tonight and deserved more than we got. We created a number of chances which was good but we need to be more clinical and put them away."
Next week Tigers travel to take on the Slough Jets on Saturday before the Sheffield Steeldogs come to Telford Ice rink on Sunday, face off at 5.30pm.
