“There won’t be a sweeter two points this season” – that was the assessment from Tigers coach Tom Watkins, following his side’s 6-5 win over Swindon Wildcats on Saturday night.
A dramatic encounter at the Link Centre saw a short-handed Telford outfit come from behind twice, including a 4-2 deficit in the second period, to claim the points.
And following an expectant pre-match build-up from the Wildcats over the previous week, Watkins was delighted to see his men turn the tables on their Wiltshire opponents.
He said: “It was a really satisfying win tonight. I don’t usually get too up or down about wins or losses, but we were short-benched to start with and even shorter after losing Sam Zajac so early on.
“I think my guys had a little bit more motivation tonight. I don’t think I had to motivate my team this evening. There’s won’t be a sweeter two points this season.”
Saturday’s game started at a frenetic pace, but Telford fell behind after just a minute, with Sam Bullas scoring for the hosts.
The Tigers hit further trouble on seven minutes when Sam Zajac was ejected from the match, after he was adjudged to have drawn blood with a high stick.
A disallowed Swindon goal then gave Telford the chance to regroup, as they successfully killed the resulting five-minute powerplay.
Doug Clarkson opened the Tigers scoring on 14 minutes, with a fine long-range effort that deceived Great Britain netminder Stevie Lyle
And the visitors ended the period 2-1 up, after captain Jason Silverthorn pounced on Danny Rose’s rebounded shot with seconds remaining.
Watkins added: “I always say about the penalty kill and powerplay being momentum changers, and moments in games like that are always important.
“We had a five minute penalty kill and I thought we were the better team, even though we were short tonight.”
The second session saw Swindon regain the upper hand, however, despite a confident start from Telford.
Jan Kostal’s hat-trick gave the Wildcats a 4-2 lead just after the halfway point of the game, as the Tigers killed a string of further powerplays.
But Clarkson was again on target from close range at the end of the period, to give his men hope of staging a late comeback.
That change in fortunes continued just seconds after the break, with Clarkson completing his hat trick to draw Telford level.
Youngster Adam Taylor drew gasps from both sets of supporters on 44 minutes, as he pulled clear to give his side the lead with an unstoppable strike past Lyle.
Swindon soon hit back though Tomasz Malasinkski, however, to set up a dramatic closing ten minutes.
But Milan Kolena sealed victory for the visitors with three minutes remaining, as he took advantage of a scramble in front of the Wildcats goal.
Watkins said: “I just thought we played with lots of character tonight, especially being so short. We battled really hard throughout the game and got our rewards.”
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