Telford Tigers just edged out in narrow defeat on the road
A depleted but spirited Telford Tigers began their away day double-header with defeat in a low-scoring clash at Basingstoke Bison.
Tom Watkins’ men fell to just a second reverse of the season but battled throughout against Bison is a closely-fought contest, where the sides were separated by a winner for the hosts 10 minutes from time.
Given Tigers, who had won three on the spin, were without influential players including Jonathan Weaver, Deakan Fielder, Nick Oliver and Ryan Lewis, head coach Watkins was proud of their efforts.
“The players put in a very good shift tonight, I can’t fault them,” Watkins said.
“We all played with a huge amount of passion, commitment and did the little things at a very good level in a rink that’s always been a tough place for us to play and find a solid performance in.
We got a very good performance from the whole team. On another night we would be coming home with the points and we certainly feel we deserved something from the game.”
A tight opening period led to just a single goal in favour of the hosts, who benefited from a power play after Bayley Harewood was sent to the sin bin for hooking. Aidan Doughty of Basingstoke sent a faint touch under netminder Brad Day.
Tigers struck back midway through the second period through their own power play.
Zack Milton was sanctioned for holding the stick and captain Jason Silverthorn combined with Danny Rose to feed Vladimir Luka to beat Alex Mettam in the home goal.
A third period followed the trend of what went before it but it was Basingstoke who found the telling winning goal in front of their own fans.
Marcel Balaz broke clear and fired a low shot past Day to make it 2-1.
Watkins’ visitors pushed hard in the final minutes for another equaliser but could not find a way through and were unable to prevent falling to a second defeat of the new league season.
Tigers’ man of the match was awarded to Corey Goodison.
Telford, meanwhile, have confirmed that town-based firm Hexagon Metrology Ltd are returning as sponsors for the 2022/23 season. The team will be known as Hexagon Telford Tigers throughout the forthcoming campaign.
