Telford Tigers narrowly miss first win in 19 games

A 3-1 deficit at the midway point of Sunday's game was overcome by two quick-fire goals from the Tigers as they looked likely to spring a surprise against the EPL title-chasers.

But a third period strike from Slough proved to be decisive and they held out against determined offensive pressure by the county men.

Watkins was disappointed that his side were unable to capitalise on the momentum they gained from those goals in the second period.

He said: "We lost, so it can't be a good performance. They have to man up and accept that winning is our goal. Just having a good performance is not good enough.

"We won't get anything for nothing. OK, we played well, but it came down to four or five shifts. We made bad decisions, missed a lot of chances and that cost us.

"There were two shots from the point that ended up in the back of the net. They were defining moments."

Tim Burrows, Callum Bowley and Tomas Karpov were the scorers for Telford as they turned the tables on a seemingly dominant performance from Slough.

The cancellation of Saturday's trip to Peterborough Phantoms gave the Tigers an extra day's rest, but they lacked enough quality to close down the visiting forwards.

Watkins added: "Credit to the guys for the way they came back into the game. But when you score a few quick goals, you have to carry that momentum and get a fourth.

"Even after the third goal, we were guilty of making a bad decision and there was a scramble in front of our net. That sort of thing cannot happen.

"It gifts the momentum back to the other side. One you get two quick goals, you expect to go on and win the game, but that didn't happen."

Telford player-coach Watkins will use this week's training to prepare his side for the visit of Sheffield Steeldogs on Saturday, before a trip to Guildford Flames on Sunday.