Telford Tigers sent out an early warning to the rest of the English Premier League with a 4-1 opening win at reigning champions Basingstoke Bison.
Victory on Saturday night came at a rink that Telford failed win at last season, and followed a successful pre-season period for the Shropshire men.
They now go on to play Manchester Phoenix at Telford Ice Rink tomorrow evening (Sunday) as the new league campaign gets into its stride.
Head coach Tom Watkins was delighted to see his side get the better of a Bison outfit that is likely to be a front-runner in the EPL this year.
He said: “It was an excellent win for us tonight and I’m very pleased with the performance from our guys. To come and beat the league champions in their own rink is a big positive step for us.
“It instills a lot of belief in what we’ve been doing over the last few weeks. We kept on rolling the lines and I think that was very important, along with some great finishing in the first period.
“We were then solid throughout the game and that took the pressure off. It was disappointing that we took some penalties later on, as we couldn’t roll the lines as we wanted, but we got the win, which is important.”
Telford were in front after just four minutes, thanks to a goal from Matty Davies, before Basingstoke opened their account at the halfway point of the first period.
Michal Satek restored Telford’s lead on 17 minutes, with a further strike from Rick Plant giving the Tigers a 3-1 cushion at the end of the opening session.
Macaulay Heywood extended that advantage on 38 minutes, as Telford closed down proceedings with a fine defensive display.
Watkins added: “I like the way we’ve got good balance in our lines and we could put out who we wanted, without worrying about which players Basingstoke were sending out.
“Looking ahead to tomorrow’s game against Manchester, the fact that we played four lines gives us some fresh legs.”
The Tigers take on Manchester Phoenix tomorrow night (6pm) at Telford Ice Rink.
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