Tom Watkins has demanded a reaction from his side as Telford Tigers look to recover from a demoralising set of defeats when they take on Manchester Phoenix and Peterborough Phantoms this weekend.

Last Sunday's loss to Peterborough, added to a similar result in Bracknell the night before, effectively spelled the end of Telford's lingering EPL play-off hopes, following a run of two successive home wins.

The Tigers boss will have the chance for immediate revenge on Sunday when he takes his side to Peterborough, although they must first make the trip to title-chasing Manchester on Saturday.

Watkins said: "We will approach the Manchester game like we do for most road trips. We will have a bit of a defensive mentality and hopefully try to take our chances on the break.

"They have got a good defence and their netminder has been playing well, so it is not an easy place to go. But we have had some good results against them this season."

Telford have, in fact, enjoyed some remarkably close games with Manchester this year, including a 2-1 victory at the start of the season.

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Telford Tigers player-coach Tom Watkins believes his players "choked" in their biggest weekend of the season, with defeats to play-off rivals Bracknell Bees and Peterborough Phantoms.

Saturday night saw the Tigers lose 1-0 to eighth-placed Bracknell in Berkshire, while Sunday produced a 8-6 defeat to the Phantoms.

Those two defeats dealt a huge blow to Telford's lingering hopes of taking part in the end-of-season tournament, although they still remain within mathematical reach.

But Watkins was more concerned about the loss of confidence from his side - especially during Sunday's loss to Peterborough.

He said: "I am disappointed, as it was a big weekend against two teams close to us in the table.

"I felt we choked against Bracknell and Peterborough. We didn't show up for the first two periods at home and these are big games for us.

"It is all about these teams around us in the league. If we had got four points it would have been a huge confidence boost, but to come out flat against Peterborough was frustrating."

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