“The work starts straight away” – Tigers coach Tom Watkins is set to start rebuilding his side, after watching them crash out of the English Premier League play-offs on Sunday night.
A 4-1 defeat at Telford Ice Rink followed Saturday’s 3-1 loss in Milton Keynes, giving the Lightning a 7-2 success over two legs of the quarter-final.
Watkins will now turn his attention to making changes within a squad of players that was hailed as league and cup winners just twelve months ago.
Captain Jason Silverthorn goes close for Telford – Credit to Steve Brodie
He said: “We haven’t got time to wait and for me, the work starts straight away. We’ve got several guys we need to contact and we need to reach out to new players.
“We’ve got to improve the team, as ultimately we haven’t been good enough all season. I want to make sure we make improvements, so we can come back and challenge in the right areas.”
The Tigers started Sunday’s game looking to lay down an early marker after that defeat on Saturday, but struggled to find their rhythm in the opening exchanges.
And it was the Lightning who silenced the capacity crowd with two quick goals on 25 minutes, although Telford replied almost straight away through Max Birbraer.
The hosts failed to trouble the scorers again, however, despite outshooting Milton Keynes by a hefty 46 shots to 26.
Further strikes from the visitors on 43 minutes and 58 minutes sealed victory, handing them a place at next weekend’s finals tournament on Coventry.
Watkins added: “It was a disappointing end to the season. We battled hard tonight, but weren’t at the races until the third period last night and that put us behind.
“We gave ourselves a good chance with the five on three, to get on the board, take that first goal and put some pressure on Milton Keynes, but it didn’t happen.
“I’ve said all season that if you’re not scoring on the five on three, then it will hurt you at some point. It was a little change in the game that we should have been able to make.”
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