Autocraft Telford Tigers returned to home ice after a penalty shot loss the previous evening to Bristol Pitbulls. New imports David Thomson and Eric Henderson made their home debuts after joining the club during last week.
Tigers made a good start to the game and opened the scoring in the tenth minute. After some pressure on Ethan James in the Raiders’ goal, Henderson’s shot was saved and a goalmouth scramble ensued. Thomson was first to the loose puck and lifted it over the prone James to score.
But within a minute the visitors were level. A turnover in the Tigers’ defensive zone was costly, Brad Day made a save but was out of position for the follow up, leading to Andrew Shewfelt backhanding the the puck into the open net.
Raiders scored two quick goals early in the second period. The first was a power play goal from Zachary Yokoyama who returned to haunt his old club a week after being released by Telford. Yokoyama hit a shot from the slot that went low past Day to put the Raiders ahead. Shortly after a shot from Shewfelt was saved by Day but trickled behind him and was slammed home by Shaun Miller.
Tigers hit back with their second goal when Vladimir Luka hammered home a shot from the bottom of the left circle.
But just as Telford were back in the game, they found themselves two behind again. With Louie Newell serving a cross check penalty Raiders added a fourth goal with a bit of fortune. A shot from Brandon Ayliffe hit Jake Price’s skate and deflected past Day.
An early third period goal for the visitors was the last thing that Telford needed but two minutes into the period Raiders had a fifth goal. The puck broke kindly to Tjay Anderson on the Telford blue line and Anderson skated in on goal unopposed and scored.
A glorious chance to hit straight back fell to Luka who was awarded a penalty shot after being slashed when clean through. But Luka’s penalty shot went wide of the goal without forcing a save from James.
Tigers had to chase the game and conceded a sixth goal with ten minutes remaining. A long range shot from Miller beat Day who appeared unsighted by the defenders in front of him.
Telford made the game close with two late goals. Harry Ferguson pulled a goal back with a wrist shot from the left circle and then Rhodes Mitchell-King added another with a shot from the slot that beat the screened James.
But despite pulling Day from goal for the final two minutes of the game Tigers could not add to their score and ended a disappointing weekend with another defeat. Telford now sit bottom of the table after 14 games.
Final Score: Autocraft Telford Tigers 4 Romford Raiders 6.
Scorers: David Thomson, Vladimir Luka, Harry Ferguson and Rhodes Mitchell-King.
Man of the match: Eric Henderson.
After the game Head Coach Tom Watkins, commented, “We started the first period very well and showed good pace throughout. We created some opportunities but made some errors that put us on the wrong side of the puck and led us to taking several minor penalties.
“If you analyse the game the difference between winning and losing was that we got some bad bounces that didn’t help at all and gave Romford an advantage but we also missed a penalty shot and a break away.
“We outshot them by 15 shots but didn’t do a good enough job of taking the goalies eyes away on many occasions.”
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