Telford Tigers on wrong end of a thriller as they lose at death

Visitors Raiders, from Romford, had lost all four previously meetings to Telford this season but it was the away side cheering a dramatic 6-4 victory at Telford Ice Rink on Saturday night.

A thrilling clash swung this way and that, as Tigers’ early lead was cancelled out by the visitors and Telford would later fall apart at 2-2 to fall 4-2 down.

But Watkins’ men rallied well for to pull the scoreline back to 4-4, only for Raiders’ Jake Sylvester to shoot past Ryan Day following a mix-up in the home defence. Lukas Sladkovsky added a sixth in the dying seconds after netminder Day had been pulled from goal to support his side’s attack.

Head coach Watkins said of the defeat to Raiders, who sit second-bottom: “It was a disappointing result for us, but take nothing away from the Raiders they deserve the win and full credit to them.

“They are another team who have benefited from our errors which seems to be a common theme at the moment and something we have to eradicate quickly.

“Of late defensively we have been poor and won’t win many games when we give up six goals.”

Telford, who lost games to Basingstoke Bison and Sheffield Steeldogs the previous weekend, led midway through a lively first period as Jack Hopkins shot beyond Michael Gray after work from Scott McKenzie and Vladimir Luka.

Aaron Connelly levelled last in the period for the lowly visitors after Tigers’ Austin Mitchell-King has been penalised for hooking.

Oliver Baldock beat busy Telford netminder Day to hand Raisers a second period lead but the hosts responded excellently, needing just 11 seconds to equaliser through Finley Howells’ fine finish after Ricky Plant’s pass from the blue line.

But the home side fell apart soon after as the visitors worked their way into a two-goal lead to really put Watkins’ men on the back foot.

Tommy Huggett made it 3-2 after a long period of possession in the Tigers’ defensive zone before Jake Pitchley added a fourth from Sladkovsky’s pass.

Watkins called a timely time out to help rally and re-organise his troops and the decision proved worthwhile as Plant tipped Corey Goodison’s long-range shot into the net to reduce the deficit ahead of the third period.

McKenzie helped raise the roof at Tigers’ home shortly into the final period as he smashed in past Gray to draw the home side level at 4-4 after the netminder had saved from Luka.

Both sides pushed for a dramatic winner but it would be the east London visitors who had the final say.

A mix-up at the back for Tigers saw Danny Rose’s defensive clearance strike one of his team-mates who was skating for a line change and the puck fell kindly for Sylvester to finish past Day.

Tigers pushed for an equaliser in the final minute. They sent Day forward out of goal to operate as an extra attacker but that allowed Raiders’ Sladkovsky to fire into an empty net from long range to seal a 6-4 victory and condemn Tigers to another defeat ahead of last night’s return trip to Romford.