'Gritty' Telford Tigers praised after big away win

David Thomson was on the scoresheet following his return from a broken finger as the Tigers followed the previous weekend’s thrilling comeback against Romford Raiders with a second straight win.

“That was a solid effort tonight, a real gritty hard fought road win,” said Watkins. “The players dug deep and battled hard but we were also smart with the way we moved the puck. 

“We made a lot of good plays and when we needed to play with a physical edge, we did.”

Though the return of Canadian Thomson to the squad was a boost, Telford also last week confirmed the loss of Jake Price for the season and they arrived in Slough short benched.

A fractious game marked by scrappy play throughout saw both teams trade early penalties but importantly, the only goal of the first period went to the visitors. Louie Newell’s shot from distance was deflected by Eric Henderson past Bees’ net minder Max Wright.

Just two minutes into the second period the Tigers’ lead was doubled when Danny Rose intercepted a pass on the Bees’ blue line and sent a shot in on goal. The shot hit James Smith and landed perfectly for Thomson to score.

Telford then looked to have built a healthy cushion when, four minutes from the break, Henderson scored a second goal when Adam Harding led a break up the ice and found his unmarked team-mate.

But within a minute the home side got on the scoreboard and reduced the deficit to two with a goal from close range by Josh Martin.

Any hope of a comeback, however, came to nothing as Telford controlled much of the final period, keeping the clock running and shutting down the home side’s attack,

The win was sealed seven minutes from the end of the match. Scott McKenzie sent Devon Skoleski clear on goal, who hit a terrific wrist shot in off the bar for Telford’s fourth goal of the night. The Tigers remained ninth in the National League standings.

Watkins later praised the performance of netminder Brad Day, who was named player of the match.

The boss said: “Brad was solid in goal and you could see he was dialled in which gave the team a lot of confidence.”