Telford Tigers pay the price as errors prove so costly
Head coach Tom Watkins was left ruing some costly mistakes after Telford Tigers tasted suffered a double setback against fellow Spring Cup high-flyers Sheffield Steeldogs.
Having seen their perfect record ended by a 4-3 defeat at home to Steeldogs on Saturday, the Tigers were looking to bounce back in the away clash on Sunday.
But it was the hosts who claimed another key victory, and made it eight wins from eight games, with a 5-2 success.
Tigers took the lead through Austin Mitchell-King but were pegged by just before the end of the first period by a strike from Jason Hewitt.
Alex Graham then struck to put the hosts 2-1 only for Tigers to hit back and level through Ricky Plant
A poor start to the third period then left Tigers facing an uphill battle as Ben Lake and James Spurr netted in quick succession to put the Steeldogs in charge. And it was the home side who wrapped up the scoring when Ben O’Connor added a fifth.
Watkins said: “I think we gave up some soft goals against a team who are very capable offensively.
“They didn’t need any help with the talent they have but we gave them a couple of gifts. Games are won and lost on mistakes and, unfortunately, we made more than Sheffield.
“They were tough to break down and we didn’t really get too many good opportunities or overly threaten from inside the dots. The team never quit and battled all night, the attitude was right, the commitment was there and perhaps with a full bench the results this weekend might have been different.”
Ross Venus (two) and Jason Silverthorn scored for Tigers in Saturday’s 4-3 loss.
Watkins’ side are second in the standings, four points behind the Steeldogs.
Tigers are in action on Friday night away to Swindon Wildcats (7.30pm). They then host Bees on Sunday (2pm).
