“We laid it on the line tonight” – Tigers coach Tom Watkins delivered a stirring assessment of his side’s winning performance against Peterborough Phantoms on Sunday evening.
A second period purple patch at Bretton Road gave Telford a 5-2 advantage ahead of the final session, with further goals giving them a 6-3 win over the EPL title challengers.
Sunday night’s success in Peterborough was the Tigers’ sixth consecutive win, as they look to mount a late challenge for league honours.
And Watkins, who watched his side trounce Manchester Phoenix 7-2 in Telford on Saturday night, was delighted with their latest two-point haul.
He said: “It was a tough game tonight and we battled well for every puck. At 5-2 and going into the third period it looked over, but Peterborough made us fight to the end.
“They had a five on three a few times, but the guys showed some great grit and determination to get the puck out. We laid it on the line tonight and played some of our best hockey of the season.”
Dan Davies was on target for Telford after nine minutes in Peterborough, as the visitors dominated early proceedings.
The Phantoms equalised at the start of the second session, but Blaho Novak hit back just a few minutes later.
Tigers skipper Jason Silverthorn extended his side’s advantage on 29 minutes, before a fourth goal from Phil Hill at the halfway point of the period.
Andrei Makrov added Telford’s fifth of the night moments later, although Peterborough capped a hectic second session with a goal just before the break.
And despite another goal from the hosts with two minutes of the game left, Silverthorn struck once more to seal the points on the stroke of full time.
Watkins added: “I expected Peterborough to come out hard in the third period, so we separated it into four-minute blocks. The first few went quickly and I thought we handled the pressure really well.
“They found a way through for one goal, but we were the deserved winners tonight.”
The Telford supremo also highlighted his squad’s scoring record over the weekend, with 15 goals in just 60 minutes of play.
“It is always important to have a good spread of scoring throughout the squad,” he said.
“We had a good touch in front of goal tonight and it was the same against Manchester. That part of our game has been our achilles heel for much of the season.
“The guys took their goals really well this weekend and everyone had done a good job in front of goal over the last few games.”
The Tigers are back in action next weekend, when they travel to face Basingstoke Bison on Saturday, before Sunday night’s encounter with Guildford Flames at Telford Ice Rink (6pm).
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