Sloppy Telford Tigers hand out early Christmas gifts in heavy defeat
Frustrated head coach Tom Watkins accused Telford Tigers of handing out early Christmas gifts after they were hit for TEN at Sheffield Steeldogs.
The Tigers scored six goals in south Yorkshire but conceded double figures themselves and were never seriously in the contest on a night when they were severely punished for their errors.
It was their seventh defeat in eight National Division matches as they failed to build on last weekend’s win over Milton Keynes.
Watkins said: “If you score six goals on the road you would expect to get something from the game and the reality is we weren’t even close to doing that.”
The errors began early and there were only four minutes on the clock when Elmeri Hallfors took advantage of a stray pass from behind the goal to score from close range.
Soon after Sheffield’s lead was doubled when Walker Sommer was the beneficiary of indecision in the Telford defence.
Tigers hit back late in the period when Eric Henderson set-up Vladimir Luka to halve the deficit but the visitors then promptly fell apart in the second period, conceding four times in the space of 10 minutes to leave the hosts firmly in command of proceedings.
Nathan Ripley skated through Telford’s defence unopposed and beat Brad Day for Sheffield’s third goal, with Brady Doxey adding a fourth when he shot from the right circle in off the bar for Sheffield’s fourth goal.
The same player made it five soon after with Sommer then getting his second of the night to make it 6-1 to the Steeldogs. Matty Bloor replaced Day in the Telford goal.
Two quick goals for the Tigers briefly stirred hopes of a comeback. Devon Skoleski scored on the power play with a wrist shot from the right circle and was closely followed by a goal from Rhodes Mitchell-King.
But Ripley then completed his brace to make it 7-3 at the end of the period and though Henderson once more cut the deficit early in the third, the goals for Sheffield kept on coming.
Sam Tremblay got in on the act to restore the home side’s four-goal cushion, which was then extended by the excellent Sommer who completed his hat-trick with a shot which beat Bloor low down.
Just seconds later the hosts reached double figures when Tremblay got his second and though Luka and Henderson scored late to add a little more respectability to the scoreline, Watkins made no excuses for what was a very poor performance.
He said: “We got behind early on after we gave them two gifts for a two goal start, then started the second very poorly to concede quickly again.
“All those goals came from individual errors or breakdowns in play we did not deal with. Sheffield fed on our mistakes all night and were clinical with their finishing.”
The Tigers, down in ninth in the National Division standings, were hoping to provide fans with a little more Christmas cheer when they hosted Solway Sharks last night.
