Telford Tigers: Watkins frustrated with third consecutive defeat

Autocraft Telford Tigers travelled to Yorkshire to take on reigning league Champions Leeds Knights. Tigers had beaten Leeds in the opening game of the season but had lost their last two games to Hull and Sheffield and had not played at their best during those two defeats.

Tigers had not played well in either of their recent first periods and found themselves behind in the second minute of the game when Innes Gallacher scored for the home side. Finley Bradon added a second goal five minutes later to increase the lead to two goals at the end of the first period.

Early in the second period, Tigers had a chance to get back into the game with a power play opportunity when Edgars Vengis was called for high sticking. But, Leeds scored shorthanded when Matt Bissonnette broke away to beat Ben Norton for Leeds’ third goal.

Within two minutes the game was over as a contest as Leeds added two further goals through Gallacher and Mac Howlett to extend the lead to five goals.

Tigers finally got on the scoreboard in the opening minute of the third period when Patrick Brown deflected an Eric Henderson shot past Leeds’ netminder Sam Gospel.

Leeds piled further misery onto Tigers with another two goal burst, Balint Pakozdi netted first followed by Gallacher’s hat trick goal to give the home side seven goals.

A late Danny Rose consolation goal gave Tigers a second of the game but a disappointing performance saw Tigers lose a third game in a row.

Telford return to home ice to face Leeds again in their next game, hoping for a better performance and result.

Final Score: Leeds Knights 7 Autocraft Telford Tigers 2.

Scorers: Patrick Brown and Danny Rose.

Man of the match: Patrick Brown.

After the game Head Coach Tom Watkins, commented, “That was frustrating. We came up against a goalie on his game who saved everything we put on him but equally we gave up seven goals which at the moment is a real issue for us. 

“The whole team needs to dig deep, win more battles, play harder, play with more edge and earn some more bounces of the puck. We got power play opportunities, but didn’t manage to play through the pressure and take advantage of the chances we were presented with.”