Telford Tigers put to the sword by Leeds Knights

Autocraft Telford Tigers travelled to Yorkshire for the second game of the weekend against league champions Leeds Knights. Telford had lost in overtime in the fixture the previous day after a spirited fightback saw Tigers level the game in the final few minutes.

Tigers has to kill off a penalty in the opening minute of the game when David Thomson was called for interference. But Tigers would score a goal whilst short handed. Leeds’ netminder Sam Gospel was caught out playing the puck behind his goal. Devon Skoleski stripped Gospel of the puck and sent it in front of goal where Eric Henderson smashed it into the open net.

It was a terrific start for Tigers but the game rapidly went downhill after they had scored. Tigers conceded an awful goal defensively by gifting the hosts an equaliser. Louie Newell attempted a pass from behind the Tigers’ goal but sent his pass into the goal off Brad Day’s skates. The concession of the goal was immediately compounded by conceding another goal just eight seconds later. Telford’s defence switched off completely allowing Matt Barron to skate in at the far post and finish off Kieron Brown’s pass into the open net.

Tigers were caught out again in the fifteenth minute when Adam Harding was awarded a 4 minute penalty for high sticking. Mac Howlett scored a third goal for Leeds to send them into the break with a two goal lead.

Tigers narrowed the deficit midway through the game with another short handed goal. Eric Henderson sent Thomson in on goal with a precise pass allowing Thomson to shoot low past Gospel to give the visitors hope.

But once again Tigers fell apart defensively conceding a goal within thirty seconds through Noah McMullin.

Two minutes later, Leeds were in full control when Jordan Buesa smashed the puck past Day for Leeds’ fifth goal. Tigers ended the period seeking a huge turnaround to get something out of the game.

The third period belonged to the hosts who scored four more goals and exploited Tigers’ defensive frailties time and time again. Howlett scored his second of the game and was followed by another goal from Buesa who took advantage of Day leaving his goal by beating him to the puck and sending it past him into the empty net. Day took this as his cue to leave the game and was replaced by back up Matty Bloor.

Bloor pulled off a couple of good saves but could not prevent further goals from Barron and Finley Bradon to compound Telford’s miserable performance.

Tigers face Peterborough Phantoms twice next weekend and will need to bounce back straight away to keep any hopes of making the semi finals alive. 

Final Score: Leeds Knights 9 Autocraft Telford Tigers 2.

Scorers: Eric Henderson and David Thomson.

Man of the match: Matty Bloor.

After the game Head Coach Tom Watkins, commented, “There’s not a lot good I can say about that performance and result. We didn’t compete hard enough and that’s why you saw the end result we got. We had a great start with a short handed goal in the first minute of the game but failed to capitalise on that and were our own worst enemy at times.

"Leeds are the league champions and have won the league three years in a row so you know you are going to get a tough game against them in their rink but we made it easy for them with the way we played. We have to perform better in our remaining games or we can forget about going to Coventry for the Final Four.”