Telford Tigers’ boss Tom Watkins paid tribute to his players for their recovery from a “blip” in Hull last month after they went six points clear at the top of EPL over the weekend.

The Tigers beat second-placed MK Lightning home and away to forge clear of the chasing pack and Watkins believes the 6-0 defeat against Hull Pirates during October was a wake-up call for his team.

He said: “We had that blip in Hull and that sort of thing tends to refocus you, and sometimes gets you back on the right page.

“Often, a team will need that to start putting the honest effort back into performances.”

Saturday’s 2-1 success in Milton Keynes saw the Tigers come from behind to win the game in overtime, but Watkins admitted he thought his team’s failure to take advantage of better possession would cost them.

“I said to the players at the end of the second period that I didn’t think we had earned it,” Watkins added.

“I said to them to go out in the third period and earn it, and they did. I thought we took over the game really well with some excellent hockey later on.

“What I liked was our character – we played a long time behind and kept going, then got the breaks with Corey (McEwen).

Lightning are very well organised and tough to break down, but we got our game going and after taking two points out of there I’m ecstatic.

“I’m really proud of the guys – they battled through and got their rewards.”

(Image permission: Steve Brodie)