Tom Watkins criticises officials after Telford Tigers hit by penalties
Tom Watkins was left unhappy with the officials as Telford Tigers were hit for six at Raiders.
The Tigers fell to their 11th defeat from 12 NIHL National League matches as they went down 6-1 at Romford in Essex.
And despite being on the end of numerous penalties that left Telford short of players on several occasions, Watkins insisted his side were not ‘dirty’.
He said: “I was really pleased with how we played the first period.
“We worked smartly, moved the puck well and executed our game at both ends of the rink. After that a good, close game was very much decided by the officials.
“For two periods we killed penalties, every call made tonight bar one was one way. We weren’t dirty, we didn’t do anything that Raiders didn’t do but we were the only team punished.
“We got into the third period with only one goal in it but got hit with penalty after penalty.
“Our penalty kill was rock solid for two periods but with the short bench we have right now there is no way we could sustain that for another period. Three times tonight we had to play short-handed with two players in the penalty box and that hasn’t happened all season until this game!”
An even first period saw only one goal, with the hosts taking the lead in the final five minutes of the period. Tigers hit back early in the second period with Vladimir Luka setting up Fin Howells, who sent a wrist shot low past Raiders net minder Ethan James. But Raiders were back ahead less than a minute late.
Tigers had to kill off an extended five-on-three power play after Rhodes Mitchell-King and Sam Watkins were given penalties.
Tigers started the third period in the worst possible way, conceding after two minutes to give Telford a mountain to climb.
Defensively Telford fell apart once again as a procession of Tigers players were sent to the penalty box. Brodie Jesson and Jason Silverthorn were serving penalties when Raiders added a fourth goal through Roberts’ second of the game. Howells was then called for tripping and Raiders scored again, with a sixth then completing another disappointing defeat.
