Telford Tigers fall to cup defeat against Sheffield Steeldogs

Tigers had won all three of their games in the competition having beaten Solway Sharks, Billingham Stars and Blackburn Hawks.

But table-topping Steeldogs proved too strong as the visitors maintained their 100 per cent winning record.

Watkins said: "It was a lacklustre performance. We were out worked, lost too many battles and didn’t compete hard enough.

"We didn’t execute simple passes and didn’t create any chances. It was a frustrating night for sure.

"In the first 10 minutes I thought we started OK and they got a bit of a fortuitous goal that came from a blocked shot which fell kindly to their player’s stick. We then proceeded to give up two short handed goals and we showed a distinct lack of desire.”

Tigers were without Joe Aston, Warren Tait and Denis Bell but added Ryan Lewis to the line-up as back-up netminder.

Sheffield opened the scoring in the eighth minute when a shot by Tim Smith hit a Tigers defender and landed perfectly for Duncan Speirs to score.

The hosts had the perfect opportunity to level the game in the 17th minute when Sheffield’s Andrew Hirst was given a slashing penalty, but instead Tigers found themselves caught out on the break.

Sheffield’s Nathan Salem hit a shot which was saved by netminder Tom Hovell brilliantly, but the rebound fell to Speirs, who tapped home his and Sheffield’s second goal of the night.

The second period was only 10 seconds old when Jonathan Weaver turned the puck over on the Tigers’ blue line, which allowed Milan Kolena to skate in on goal and fire past Hovell.

Tigers continued to press without any joy, with both Adam Taylor and Dan Mitchell being denied by Sheffield netminder Brandon Stones.

They finally got on the scoresheet in the final minute of the second period as Taylor scored from close range after being found by Andy McKinney’s pass from behind the goal.

In the third period, Tigers pushed to get back into the game but were undone again whilst on the power play.

Sheffield broke in on the Tigers’ goal whilst short handed. Liam Charnock’s shot was saved by Hovell, but once again Sheffield were first to the rebound, Cameron Brownley scoring to make it 4-1.

Tigers gained some hope in the 53rd minute when McKinney pulled a goal back with a powerful shot past Stones after Joe Hazeldine’s initial shot had deflected into his path.

Tigers pressed during the final five minutes but could not make their pressure pay and took a time out in the 59th minute.

Net minder Hovell was pulled to give Tigers an extra attacker but Sheffield scored an empty net goal, from Adrian Palak, in the final 30 seconds to seal a 5-2 victory.