Telford Tigers claw their way to the top

Telford Tigers coach Tom Watkins hailed his side’s character as they came back to win 4-3 at Billingham Stars on Saturday.

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Tom Watkins

Tigers were without GB international Jonathan Weaver through suspension for the NIHL North Division One clash, but iced new signing Warren Tait in his first game since returning to Telford.

Tigers found themselves 2-0 in the first period, but levelled before taking the points – a result that maintained their 100 per cent league record and send them to the top of the division.

Watkins said: “After going down two goals in the first period, I thought we showed good character to come back and tie the game at 2-2.

“The guys dug deep with a short bench to take the lead in the third, and with Billingham getting a fortuitous bounce of the puck in our zone to tie the game, we had to show good character and belief to win the game.

“It was a tough game, but we ground out a result on the road.”

The game started badly for Tigers with Billingham scoring the opening goal in the fifth minute through Chris Sykes and with Tigers struggling to get to grips with the game, the Stars extended their lead with a goal from Michael Elder 11 minutes later.

The second period saw Tigers pick up the pace and they finally got on the scoresheet in the 24th minute when man of the match Corey Goodison scored his first goal of the season, on the power play, to halve the deficit.

Tigers continued to pressure Billingham and were rewarded a minute from the end of the period with an equaliser through Dale White, who got his shot away while Billingham’s defence hesitated.

Tigers started the third period strongly and took the lead of the night in the 46th minute when Captain Jason Silverthorn fired home.

But the lead would only last a minute as Michael Bowman levelled for the hosts to leave the score 3-3. With both teams pushing for the win, it was tTigers that would get the decisive goal in the 52nd minute Joe Miller scored from Silverthorn’s pass to give Tigers the two points.