Tom Watkins’ warning as Telford Tigers hold on after lightning start

However, he also warned his side against getting complacent after the Slough hosts fought back to make the final score 8-4 in the NIHL National League

There were eight different scorers – Jason Silverthorn, Corey Goodison, Rhodes Mitchell-King, Ricky Plant, Fin Howells, Tom Byrne, Vladimir Luka and Bayley Harwood – but Watkins wants his side to be more disciplined.

He said: “We got a fast start, collectively everyone was on their game from the start, played simple, moved the puck low to high and got bodies to the net.

“We were rewarded for our efforts and hopefully it shows how simple the game should be. A 7-1 first period was a great start. Bees were then more dominant in the next 40 minutes, we again took too many minor penalties and need to learn to be more disciplined. The last two periods we lost 3-1.

“At 7-1 we should shut the game down not allow a team to come back at us. That’s something for us to learn and improve upon.”

Tigers started the game with four players missing from the squad – Jonathan Weaver, Deakan Fielder, Nick Oliver and Jack Watkins.

Telford were pleased that Rhodes Mitchell-King was able to take to the ice after missing the end of the previous game against Peterborough after taking a puck to the leg when blocking a shot.

The game was delayed by 15 minutes, but it was certainly worth the wait for Tigers fans.

Bees’ Stuart Mogg was called for tripping early on, giving Telford their first power play of the evening, and they took less than a minute to open the scoring as a shot from distance by Danny Rose was deflected expertly past Bees’ netminder Adam Goss by Silverthorn.

Just 10 seconds later the lead was doubled. A long-range shot from Goodison hit the post and rebounded off the back of Goss and trickled into the net. Surprisingly, Goss was pulled from goal and replaced by back-up netminder Dan Weller-Evans.

Bees did get one back during a power play of their own, but Tigers were then rampant for the remainder of the first period.

Mitchell-King drilled a perfect shot into the top corner of the goal from the blue line and Tigers made it 4-1 when Goodison set up Ricky Plant for a low shot past back-up Dan Weller-Evans.

Just 20 seconds later, Tigers had a fifth.

A shot from Rose was tipped by Fin Howells and saved by Weller-Evans. But as the Bees’ netminder made the save, he kicked the puck behind him into the net with the goal being credited to Howells.

Byrne then scored his first National League goal, directing a strike from Jake Price over Weller-Evans into the roof of the net.

And Tigers were 7-1 clear when a thunderous shot from Vladimir Luka flew past Weller-Evans into the bottom of the goal.

The puck was struck so hard that the officials took some time to retrieve it after it had got stuck in the netting.

Bees reacted by returning Goss to the goal, to replace Weller-Evans for the rest of the game.

The hosts scored twice during the second period to reduce the arrears to 7-3, with Telford not adding to their score.

However, they did put it to bed in the final period. McKenzie had already struck the post when Harewood found the top left-hand corner.

A late Dominik Gabaj goal for Bees rounded off the scoring, but Tigers saw out the game to seal the two points.