Tom Watkins hails Telford Tigers fighting spirit

The Tigers cancelled out Liam Morris’ opener early in the second period as shoot-out hero Brandon Whistle pounced.

But disaster struck as Tigers conceded twice in the space of minute and found themselves a man down.

George Norcliffe and Sean Norris made it 3-1 to Bison with the Tigers facing an uphill battle after Andy McKinney was ejected from the game after an altercation with the visitors’ Adam Jones.

But Tigers bounced back in the third period as Dominik Florian scored a superb individual goal and Scott McKenzie made it 3-3 to send the game to overtime.

But after Tigers’ Ricky Plant’s added time goal was disallowed for interference, the game would be settled by a penalty shoot out.

Bison missed all three and Whistle was the hero as he stepped up to net Tigers’ third penalty.

And Watkins hailed the crowd for their role as Tigers maintained the seven-point lead at the top of the NIHL National League table.

He said: “You can’t write us off whatever the situation. It is a huge result for us and another four-point weekend (after beating Leeds on Saturday).

“I’ve got to mention the mindset of this group, they are very focused, very resilient and have got the ability to dig us out of a hole.

“We always felt if we could get to the slot and find a little space we would get our reward.

“Basingstoke defended their goal very well and kept us to the outside for most of the game with Alex Mettam very composed in goal.

“We stuck with it, kept doing the things we felt would give us quality opportunities and were able to do that in the third period, scoring two big goals.

“I have to mention the third period support from our fans, they really got behind us. They saw the commitment from the guys and together we pulled one out the bag.”