Telford Tigers' Tom Watkins happy to be the underdogs in Final Four

Tigers won four of their six National Ice Hockey League play-off games to finish at the Group B summit, as they set-up a mouth-watering semi-final tie against Peterborough Phantoms later today

Telford, who face-off at 5.30pm, have collected 10 wins from their last 12 games to propel themselves into a strong position and Watkins has praised his team for thriving off their ‘underdog’ status.

He said: “We’ve been fortunate enough to go to a number of these ‘Final Four’ weekends now.

“Somebody said to me the other day, I think we’ve qualified for seven of the last eight, which for a club the size of Telford, is a great achievement.

“That’s something we can be proud of but we’re not content. For myself having taken the team there so often, we want to go that extra yard and make sure we make the final and ultimately we’d love to be in with a shout of winning it.

“I think we’re underdogs by right of the league seeding again but that suits us. Sometimes we can be underestimated and I am happy for teams to do that.

“We work very hard on our preparations, on our pre-scouts of opposition and we’ll tweak systems and strategies so we won’t be predictable and will certainly be difficult to play against. That’s a key part of going into a play-off weekend is making sure that if a team is going to beat you then they’re going to have to play very well.”

Reflecting on the season, Watkins admitted it was initially difficult to contend with a growing injury list, but feels his side have bought into the ethos and are capable of being a match for any team.

“We know we’re more than a match for any team in the league,” he continued.

“We started the season very well. In September and October, we picked up a lot key wins at that point and we had some disastrous luck with injuries.

“There were several guys who had season-ending injuries, which left us a little bit thin on the ground. We lost Danny Rose, Sam Watkins, Jonathan Weaver and Ricky Plant all in a relatively short space of time.

“They were very difficult to replace and the middle part was a bit of a struggle but we’re very pleased to certainly be one of the form teams going into the play-offs.

“10 wins out 12 is a great achievement for the group. I really like the way we’ve bought into it since Christmas and got on board with the way we want to able to play, the culture in the room is really good and the atmosphere is great.”