Autocraft Telford Tigers travelled to Wiltshire on Saturday to take on league leaders Swindon Wildcats. Tigers had lost their previous game to Swindon at home and were looking to get back on track after successive defeats.

Tigers fell behind in the eighth minute of the game when Swindon player coach Aaron Nell scored from close range. Tigers hit back two minutes later with a power play goal. Josh Shaw was serving a high sticking penalty for Swindon when Brynley Capps scored from a set up by Harry Ferguson to draw the sides level.

Five minutes into the second period, the visitors were ahead. David Thomson sent Eric Henderson in on goal and Henderson shot into the roof of the Swindon goal with a superbly placed wrist shot. Less than three minutes later Tigers extended their lead with another power play goal. Capps was the provider this time, setting up Tom Byrne to score. 

But this would be as good as it got for Telford as an all to familiar collapse occurred. Swindon pulled a goal back just fifteen seconds later with a shot from distance from Tomasz Malasinski that beat Brad Day who was screened by his own defenders.

With five minutes of the period left, Telford conceded three goals in less than three minutes to find themselves chasing a game once again. Tyler Watkins scored with a power play goal to level the score. Logan Vande Meerakker struck next with a shot that went in off Rhodes Mitchell-King’s skate. Swindon’s three goal burst was finished off with a further goal from Watkins to send Tigers into the break 5-3 behind.

Tigers didn’t threaten much in the third period and Swindon sealed another victory over the Shropshire side with a late goal from Edgars Bebris. Tigers have now lost three games in a row and will face Sheffield Steeldogs at home next to try and end that run.

Final Score: Swindon Wildcats 6 Autocraft Telford Tigers 3.

Scorers: Brynley Capps, Eric Henderson and Tom Byrne.

Man of the Match: Brynley Capps.

After the game Head Coach Tom Watkins, commented, “That was a very similar game to last weekend when we played the Wildcats at home. We saw the best and worst of our game, the level we can get to but we can’t seem to sustain it which is a huge frustration. 

“We put ourselves in a great position then mental lapses creep in, individual errors, a weak mentality and no resilience, it’s not the first time this season we have seen that. 

“We have played well in one off games, home and away, but we are looking for consistency in performances. We want the feeling where you know you’re going to perform, we’re almost hoping to perform rather than expecting to. This is an acid test. We feel we can rise to the challenge. We have a lot of questions to answer with this group of players.”