Tom Watkins pleased to see Telford Tigers stay calm in Peterborough Phantoms victory

Victory over Peterborough means the Tigers are still eight points clear of Milton Keynes at the top of the EPL – and could clinch the title against Bracknell next weekend.

But their nine-game winning run nearly came to an end at Telford Ice Rink as the visitors repeatedly threatened to open a decisive lead.

A single goal in the final session was enough to secure victory for the Tigers, however, with Peterborough unable to take advantage of a string of powerplays.

Watkins said: "You never want to be involved in the sort of table tennis game where you're going to and forth with the lead, but the guys responded well.

"The big thing is that we didn't panic and showed a lot of character. We have a lot of talent on the team and got our first powerplay goal just at the right time to make it 2-1.

"I was pleased we won the second period, but it was frustrating that we kept on opening doors for them again.

"Peterborough are a very good team and they will bury any chances they get. We were a little sloppy, but the win is the important thing for us at the moment.

"I'm not taking anything away from Peterborough, they're a good team who can make it difficult. But I know we can play better."

Proceedings once again started slowly for the Tigers with Peterborough taking the lead after just eight minutes of the first period.

The visitors doubled their advantage on 13 minutes and it wasn't until the 17th minute that Telford opened their account through Doug Clarkson.

Clarkson was on target with his second goal of the night just after the interval, before Adam Taylor added a third for the Tigers on 25 minutes.

Peterborough regained the lead with two goals of their own at the halfway point of the game, although the hosts drew level through Lubomir Korhon on 37 minutes.

Taylor gave his side the advantage once again with a goal just before the break – but a fifth Phantoms goal on the stroke of 40 minutes made it 5-5 at the start of the final session.

A breathless third period saw just the one goal, from Telford's Milan Kolena, as the hosts saw off a barrage of scoring opportunities from Peterborough.

Watkins added: "Thankfully we managed to get ahead in the third period and stay there.

"But we killed a lot of penalties, so it was still very tense and that makes the game more exciting for the fans. It was good to see some scoring coming from elsewhere in the team.

"Young Adam Taylor stepped up with a couple of excellent goals. He's a hard-working kid who has been with us for a while, so that was good to see."

Saturday's game at home to Bracknell Bees starts at 6pm.

Go to www.tigershockeyuk.com for tickets.