Telford Tigers slip to double-defeat in weekend on road
Telford Tigers head coach Tom Watkins bemoaned a failure to capitalise on crucial moments and allowing in soft goals after a double-defeat weekend for his side.
Tigers went down 6-3 at Peterborough Phantoms on Sunday night, following on from an 8-3 reverse at Milton Keynes Lightning 24 hours earlier.
Tigers remain rock bottom of the National Division with just a solitary win so far this season.
But they wer were gifted a perfect chance to take the lead in the sixth minute at Peterborough when Joe Gretton was called for interference.
Telford opened the scoring on the subsequent power play when Adam Harding sent a pass back towards the blue line where Vladimir Luka smashed a first time slap shot into the net.
But the home side soon equalised through a tap in from Austin Mitchell-King who was free at the back post.
Shortly after the Phantoms took the lead when Janne Laakkonen’s shot was tipped by Luke Ferrara past Brad Day. Late in the period, Telford equalised with a goal from James Smith who hit a terrific wrist shot into the top corner of the goal.
With the game finely poised heading into the third period, the Phantoms took control with two quick goals. Ferrara completed his hat trick and Laakkonen scored to give the visitors a mountain to climb.
Ferrara rounded off the scoring late in the game with his fourth of the contest to condemn Tigers to a seventh defeat of the season.
After the game Watkins said:“We needed to compete hard and I thought we did that for the most part but ultimately their top line made a difference when it mattered and swung the game in their favour in the third period.
“It was a pretty similar situation to Saturday night where, at 3-3 in the second period, we must have had four two-on- ones and a breakaway. It’s those moments that make a difference, create some daylight between us and them going into the third period but we couldn’t capitalise on those situations. I thought the goals we gave up in third period were soft, they were a sign of where our problems currently lie.”
Tigers face another weekend on the road with Sheffield Steeldogs next up on Saturday followed by a trip to Swindon Wildcats in Sunday.
