Tigers NIHL coach Jason Parry is refusing to give up on his side’s play-off ambitions after seeing them go down 4-3 to Billingham Stars at Telford Ice Rink on Saturday night.
A late goal almost handed Telford a point against the north-east outfit, as they fought back from 4-2 deficit at the halfway point of the final period.
But with just twelve seconds left to play after that third strike, the Tigers were unable to steal a draw from one of their chief rivals for a top-four spot.
Parry, whose side are now level on points with Billingham, believes there is still everything to play for ahead of the Moralee Conference play-offs.
He said: “I don’t think the boys gave up all night and they worked hard on every shift. We saw that with the goal from James Smith, right at the end.
“It seems to be the Telford way that we never do things easily, so we’ll need to beat Solihull here next week, then go to Billingham and take two points.
“We’ve got one game more to play than them, but we also have to watch out for Solway Sharks, who are coming up fast behind us with games in hand
“There are still four games to go and one of them in Solway is for double points, so that’s ten points to play for. There is a long way to go yet.”
Telford took an early lead against Billingham on Saturday night, as Callum Bowley scored after just six minutes.
The visitors equalised with three minutes of the first period remaining, and then took the lead with two quickfire goals after the break.
Karol Jets pulled it back to 3-2 on 36 minutes, but a fourth Billingham strike in the third period appeared to have secured the points.
Parry removed netminder Denis Bell in favour of an extra forward late on, and was rewarded with that James Smith goal on 59 minutes to end the game 4-3.
“I thought we played quite well tonight and only really made a few mistakes,” he added.
“Billingham’s two powerplay goals in the second period really cost us and I wasn’t sure about some of the decisions. We killed a lot of penalty minutes in that period, including a five on three.
“But they got those two goals and if you keep getting chances on the powerplay, then you’re going to score.”
The Tigers NIHL have two games next weekend, starting with Saturday night’s visit of Solihull Barons to Telford Ice Rink. On Sunday, they make the long trip north to face Billingham.
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