Tigers' shoot out victory over Solway Sharks
Autocraft Telford Tigers travelled up to Scotland to take on the Sharks on the back of two consecutive four point weekends and with a team full of confidence.
Telford started the game well but it was the home side who opened the scoring in the twelfth minute when John Dunbar’s shot was saved by Brad Day but the puck feel kindly to Nolan Gardiner who back handed it past Day for the first goal of the night. Six minutes later, the home side doubled the lead. Gardiner turned provider when his long range shot was tipped past Day by Caly Robertson.
Telford hit back within a minute. Ross Connolly showed some excellent stick handling and a toe drag of the puck to create an opportunity in front of the Sharks’ goal. His shot hit the post but bounced away from goal only for Solway’s Scott Henderson to kick the puck into his own net when trying to clear it.
Tigers were unlucky to be behind and even more so when they conceded a third goal early in the second period. With James Smith in the penalty box for boarding, the Sharks took advantage of the extra player when Gardiner set up Mason Alderson to score from close range.
Once again Telford hit straight back to reduce the deficit. David Thomson’s long range shot deceived Solway net minder Jordan Marr beating him low down.
An equaliser followed closely after with Thomson combining with Eric Henderson to give the latter a shooting chance in the slot, with Henderson firing the puck to Marr’s right to draw the sides level.
A close third period saw both teams have chances to win the game and, as the minutes ticked away, it looked like the next goal would win the game. With four minutes of regulation time left, Alderson snook away from his marker and sent Torran Anderson’s pass past Day to give the hosts what appeared to be a winning lead.
But Telford would not give up and with the clock ticking towards the final two minutes, the game was level again. Vladimir Luka skated around the Solway net and when Louie Newell sent a pass towards goal, Luka was perfectly placed to lift the puck over Marr’s glove and send the game to overtime.
A hectic extra five minutes overtime period saw both teams have chances to win the game with both net minders called on to make saves but with no further goals, the game went to a shoot out.
Thomson and Henderson were scorers for Telford in the shootout meaning Robertson had to score to keep the shootout going but his effort was sent over the goal, handing the victory to the visitors and extending Telford’s winning run to five games.
Final Score: Solway Sharks 4 Autocraft Telford Tigers 5 (After Penalty Shootout).
Scorers: Ross Connolly, David Thomson, Eric Henderson and Vladimir Luka.
Man of the match: Eric Henderson.
After the game Head Coach Tom Watkins, commented, “That was another big win for us after coming from behind once again to tie it up and win it in the shootout.
"Brad (Day) made some big saves once again and we probably hit 3 or 4 posts this evening but we found a way to get the win and showed plenty of resilience and character to keep coming back when we were behind in the game.
"We have a long, late road trip home before we go again in our next game and we need to put in the same sort of performance to keep our run going.”
