Tom Watkins: Struggles have made Telford Tigers stronger

Victory at Telford Ice Rink followed away wins in Sheffield and Swindon as the Tigers retained their eight-point lead at the top of the EPL.

And with the Shropshire men having been short of numbers for all three games, head coach Tom Watkins was proud of their efforts.

He said: "The guys have played a lot of minutes over the last week, with having the midweek game, and of course it's been tough.

"But I said to them after the game that I love their character and strength of mind. They're never beaten, no matter what happens.

"They've been totally professional. The last 20 minutes weren't great, but the most important thing is we got the two points and we did it in overtime.

"I think over the last six to eight weeks, the struggles we've been through have made us stronger as a group. The adversity has really helped the team on the ice."

Telford got off to the best possible start on Sunday with Corey McEwen scoring after just seven minutes of the first period.

Defenceman Sam Zajac fought with Guildford's Andy McKinney on 13 minutes as tempers threatened to boil over.

Captain Jason Silverthorn added to the hosts' lead at the start of the second session, before scoring Telford's third on 27 minutes. But that strike appeared to spur Guildford into action, with their first of the night coming from McKinney on the stroke of the period break.

Andrew Hemmings struck again for the Flames on 45 minutes before they equalised through Ben Campbell just moments later.

That goal sent the game into overtime and it was Telford who secured the points with a golden goal from Milan Kolena.

Watkins added: "It was disappointing to give up that goal before the end of the second, but I said to the boys afterwards that we still won the period. I felt for two periods we were the best team on the ice without any shadow of a doubt.

"The guys were as good as they can be in the second, and probably should have put the game beyond reach then. We were dead on our feet in the third period and didn't get the puck in front of the net enough or perhaps make those clean plays."

A dramatic encounter at Swindon saw Telford come from behind twice, including a 4-2 deficit in the second period, to claim the points.

Telford fell behind after just a minute with Sam Bullas scoring for the hosts.

Tigers hit further trouble on seven minutes when Sam Zajac was ejected from the match after he was adjudged to have drawn blood with a high stick.

Doug Clarkson opened Tigers' account on 14 minutes with a long-range effort.

And the visitors ended the period 2-1 up after captain Jason Silverthorn pounced with seconds remaining. The second session saw Swindon regain the upper hand and Jan Kostal's hat-trick gave the Wildcats a 4-2 lead.

But Clarkson was again on target from close range at the end of the period to give his men hope. That change in fortunes continued just seconds after the break with Clarkson completing his hat-trick.

Youngster Adam Taylor drew gasps from both sets of supporters on 44 minutes as he pulled clear to give his side the lead with an unstoppable strike.

Swindon soon hit back through Tomasz Malasinkski, however.

But Milan Kolena sealed victory for the visitors with three minutes left as he took advantage of a scramble in front of goal.