Good and bad points in Telford Tigers’ 13-4 win

The result left the Tigers top of their NIHL North Cup group with one game to play, having already qualified for the semi-finals.

And though Watkins was thrilled with some of the goals they scored, he is still searching for improvements.

“It was another good display,” he said. “I thought the first period was excellent – it had a bit of everything and we scored some great goals.

“There were a couple of huge hits from Corey Goodison and Jack Watkins which really got the fans going as did Jordan Stokes for sticking up for a team-mate.

“I think heading into the second period our mentality changed from the way we approached the first and we thought it was going to be a night where we scored lots of points.

“We gave up a number of odd-man rushes that led to goals and we were punished.

“We have to remain disciplined and stick to our roles and systems.

“We made some strong face-off plays that led to goals – these are things we have been working on and it’s good to see us executing them in games.

“I was pleased to get Ryan Lewis in goal for part of the third period and he made three to four fine saves.”

Tigers were able to add Joe Hazeldine and Jed Moreland to their line-up, but continued to be without the services of Warren Tait, Denis Bell and Dan Mitchell.

The hosts opened the scoring in the fifth minute with a mistake from Harrison Walker in the Blackburn goal.

Hazeldine’s shot was struck fiercely, but it went in and out of Walker’s glove and dropped behind him into the net.

Just 30 seconds later, Tigers added a second goal. Watkins battled to win the puck in front of the goal and sent a wrist shot past Walker.

The game was getting physical and the crowd roared with approval after a huge hit in centre ice by Goodison flattened a Blackburn player.

Tigers scored their third in the 10th minute. Good passing between Doug Clarkson and Adam Taylor left Scott McKenzie unmarked to shoot in off Walker’s pads and into the roof of the net.

Shortly after, Tigers were given a power play when Blackburn’s Oliver Lomax was called for roughing.

Adam Taylor showed fantastic stick handling skills to beat two players and send a perfect pass to McKenzie to score with a wrist shot.

Tigers were causing all sorts of problems for the Blackburn defence – Andy McKinney hit the post shortly before Jason Silverthorn scored goal number five with a precise finish low into the bottom of the net after being set up by Hazeldine.

As the opening period entered the final minute, Blackburn got a breakaway goal through Kieron Brown.

Tigers restored their five-goal advantage at the start of the second period when Doug Clarkson smashed a shot in from close range after being set up by McKenzie.

However, they then had a couple of sloppy minutes where they conceded two goals in quick succession.

Tigers responded quickly by adding a seventh goal through Clarkson, but Blackburn got another to leave the score 7-4 at the midway point of the game.

Any thoughts of a Blackburn come back were put to bed swiftly when Silverthorn was sent clear by Ricky Plant to shoot between the legs of netminder Niks Trapans.

In the 35th minute, Tigers scored the best goal of the night with some excellent one-touch passing between Watkins and Clarkson leaving McKenzie free at the far post to complete his hat-trick.

Two minutes later, the game was effectively over as a contest when Watkins hammered home a slap shot from the blue line to leave it 10-4 at the end of the second period.

The third period was only a minute old when McKenzie added his fourth of the game, tipping a Danny Rose shot into the net from close range.

Just 18 seconds later, Taylor was sent clear by Clarkson and shot past Trapans for the 12th.

The final goal of the contest was scored in the 54th minute. McKinney drew two defenders to him and then sent a pass to Plant, who skated in on goal and shot past Trapans.

Tigers’ win, combined with Hull beating Sheffield earlier in the evening, means that they will qualify as winners of the cup table, gaining home ice advantage in the semi-final.