Telford Tigers lose away after Lightning bolt

Head coach Tom Watkins admitted his team deserved nothing more than they managed in front of a boosted crowd of 2,000 in Milton Keynes, where the visitors were comfortably second-best in NIHL National League action.

The visitors hoped to quieten down a raucous home crowd early on but, instead, suffered the opposite as MK powered ahead with a man advantage.

Watkins said: “Unfortunately, we were beaten by a better team.

“We got a bad start after the puck deflected off one of our players on a shot on a Milton Keynes power play early in the game and the first period was a struggle but we followed that up with a strong second period where we were much more disciplined.

“I don’t think we earned any bounces and, as a team, they were deserved winners in front of over 2,000 fans.”

Telford responded admirably from their early setback and briefly restored parity, but that was about as good as it got for Watkins’ men, who had man-of-the-match netminder Brad Day to thank for keeping the scoreline down.

Tigers were, at least, boosted by the return of important duo Scott McKenzie and Jack Watkins.

But the loss of Corey Goodison for tripping inside the opening couple of minutes handed an early power play to Lightning, but either so their opening goal was fortuitous.

A shot from the blue line took a heavy deflection off a Tigers defender and the puck dropped perfectly for Tim Wallace to finish beyond Day.

Tigers struck back midway through the opening period after the hosts’ Hallden Barnes-Garner was sidelined for tripping.

The latest in a series of successful power plays for Tigers of late saw McKenzie and captain Jason Silverthorn combine effectively to set up Vladimir Luka to draw the visitors level.

Tigers were keen to finish the first period level at 1-1 but those hopes were scuppered with five minutes remaining.

Lightning broke in a flash and Deivids Sarkanis converted into the net for 2-1.

Watkins’ side did their best to hit back in the second period but were unable to break through a resolute defence, but to their credit Telford were solid themselves and kept the scoreline at 2-1.

But with just a couple of minutes gone in the third and final period Tigers found themselves with a mountain to climb as Milton Keynes struck a third through Sam Talbot, who had been played in by Wallace.

Lightning, who in their previous game became the first side to get the better of league leaders Leeds Knights, never looked like surrendering their two-goal advantage and found a fourth through Callum Field with 10 minutes of the contest to play.

It is leaders Leeds next up for Tigers, first of all a trip to Yorkshire on Saturday before the return clash at Telford Ice Rink 24 hours later.