Lightning vow to put things right

MK Lightning know exactly the areas where they need to improve following last weekend’s defeats at the hands of the league’s top two teams, according to head coach Nick Poole – and they intend to start their revival against Telford Tigers this weekend (Saturday 19 February, 7pm) The Tigers were thrilled with a win over league high-fliers Slough Jets recently, but Poole has warned the Shropshire side not to expect another big scalp when they travel to Milton Keynes. Slough aren’t the first high-profile side to have been troubled by the Tigers this season – Tom Watkins’ side was 3-1 up on Basingstoke Bison last month before falling to a narrow 3-4 defeat in a closely-fought game, and also beat title challengers Guildford Flames in November. Lightning have won 10 of their 15 games since Christmas  and conceded  the fewest goals in the EPL in the season so far, remaining a solid fifth in the table within touching distance of both Slough Jets and Basingstoke Bison above them. They kept their loyal travelling supporters on the edge of their seats on Sunday by recovering from 5-0 down against Manchester by scoring four goals in ten minutes, losing narrowly 5-4 at the final buzzer.   Player-coach Poole is optimistic and has warned Telford against raising their hopes that another episode of giant-killing could be on the cards this Saturday.  “Obviously we’re all disappointed with last weekend’s results, but it’s just made us even more determined to put things right and regain the momentum we had.  Although we had to fight to try and recover from a deficit in both games, the guys showed amazing spirit and refused to give in until the final buzzer went.  Neither of last weekend’s scorelines fully reflect how hard we fought to get back into those games.  “We know where we fell short in those games and we’ll be working hard to stop it happening again.  We know our supporters were disappointed but believe me, so was the team.  “The Tigers got a fantastic win over Slough recently, and that must really have buoyed everyone at Telford.  But they shouldn’t assume that because we’ve had a wobble recently, that we’ll be their next scalp – we intend to put things right and send the Tigers home empty-handed!”