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Tigers suffer miserable weekend
Telford Tigers suffered a miserable weekend, losing to teams at both ends of the table - and they can expect a tough time in training on Tuesday.
An 8-3 road loss to Guildford was, perhaps, not entirely unexpected as the Flames have always been one of the English Premier League's strongest sides. But going down 7-5 at home to Sheffield Steeldogs hurts the team's confidence as well as its play-off ambitions.
And player-coach Tom Watkins has warned his players to be ready to work when they turn up for training on Tuesday night.
"We have to tighten up defensively," said Watkins. "We've let seven, eight and seven goals against in the last three games so we are going to have to concentrate on that in training, on all aspects of our 'D'.
Even when we are in the offensive zone we have to keep a defensive mindset. We are just breaking down and giving easy outs to teams.
"I've told the boys to expect a hard one on Tuesday and I hope they come ready to work."
The Tigers earned a lot of respect from the Guildford supporters for their 'never-say-die' attitude, and while the result down in Surrey was never in serious doubt, Telford did keep themselves in the game until the start of the third period.
A powerplay goal from Scott McKenzie and a further strike by Marek Hornak meant Tigers stayed close to their hosts in the first period, while man of the match Andy McKinney helped Telford into the third period at 5-3. Sadly it was all the home side from there, with Guildford's assured performance taking the points.
Watkins said: "Guildford have some very experienced players as well as some good young guys who skate well. We were slow out of the blocks, but we got it to 3-2 and were still in it 5-3 at the beginning of the third. They put in a professional performance and ran out 8-3 which is probably the right result."
Tigers gave second netminder Declan Ryan a run-out at Guildford, and the youngster didn't disappoint, with a solid game.
"I wanted to give Declan an opportunity to play," said Watkins. "I didn't think we were under any pressure to go down there light it up.
Declan played well, as he did at the start of the season. Both of our goaltenders are performing outstandingly well; it's just unfortunate that they are facing such a lot of rubber."
Sunday's fixture against Sheffield had been billed as a must-win game, with the two teams likely to end up battling for the final play-off berth, along with Swindon and Bracknell.
The visitors were first to net, after just 96 seconds, but Tigers equalised through Jack Watkins, assisted by Daniel MacKriel and Tom Watkins at 8:48. However the team got themselves caught up in the corner, leaving Sheffield wide open to retake the lead before the break.
The second period was much more lively for Tigers, with a powerplay goal from Joe Henry within two minutes of the restart. Marek Hornak gave them the go-ahead goal, assisted by Andrejs Maslovskis at 28:42 and man of the match Tomas Janak extended the lead just half a minute later. When Scott McKenzie made it 5-2 at 35:10 Sheffield called a timeout. Whatever was said did the trick because the rest of the game belonged to Steeldogs, with them clawing one back before the break.
Despite Tigers outshooting their guests, the third period saw Sheffield score four unanswered goals, the last an empty netter as Tigers gambled the extra man in a vain attempt to force the game into overtime.
Afterwards Watkins summed up the game, saying: "We didn't come out great in the first and, credit to the boys, we came out really hard in the second and played the way we should play hockey. We cycled, took the puck to the net and we got goals.
"In the third period I asked the guys to be mentally strong enough to win it but at the moment it doesn't seem that way. We just didn't do anything that we had done in the second period. We didn't skate to pucks, we didn't get behind their defence. For about ten minutes in that period I don't think I got over the red line.
"That is certainly not the way our team should be playing the game."
Next weekend sees Tigers on the road to Milton Keynes Lightning in Saturday before welcoming Manchester Phoenix to Telford on Sunday (5.30pm).
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| 12th March 2006 19:00 | ||
5-3 |
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| 12th March 2006 19:00 | ||
4-5 |
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| 12th March 2006 19:00 | ||
1-4 |
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| 12th March 2006 19:00 | ||
4-4 |
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| 11th March 2006 19:00 | ||
2-4 |
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| 11th March 2006 19:00 | ||
| Club | GP | W | L | OL | GF | GA | Pts |
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5-8 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
5-1 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
4-1 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
5-2 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
3-7 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
1-1 |
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| 19th March 2006 19:00 | ||
| Club | GP | W | L | OL | GF | GA | Pts |
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