BRACKNELL Bees are still searching for a first win in this season’s tournament fixtures after a 6-1 defeat at the hands of Telford Tigers on Saturday.

The Bees got off to a losing start against Manchester Phoenix and Telford earlier this month, and now have to wait until mid-December to try and set the record straight.

They went into the game at The Hive still missing Carl Graham. Telford were without Jonathan Weaver, Adam Taylor and Vladimir Kutny though they added Dale White.

Just under half-way through the first period Bracknell got the reward for their early pressure when Callum Fowler forced a turnover and passed straight to Frantisek Bakrlik, who buried his shot past Tom Murdy.

In the dying seconds of the opening stanza Phil Hill was called for tripping meaning Bees would start the second period on the power play.

However, Telford killed-off the penalty effectively before netting their first goal of the evening when a Daniel Rose pass found Dale White, who made no mistake with his shot.

It was the Tigers who now upped the pressure on the home side and Bracknell soon found themselves a man down as Matt Towalski was called for delay of the game.

The Bees dug deep however and saw off the penalty well, and they nearly took the lead again as Milan Kostourek came close on a short-handed breakaway.

Two quick goals from Telford, only two minutes apart, gave the visitors the lead. First Nathan Salem fired a wrist shot past Alex Mettam in the Bracknell net, and then Macauley Heywood doubled the advantage with another wrist shot.

The Bees quickly called a time-out to re-group but only two and a half minutes later a long range shot from Salem added to the Tigers’ lead. His effort found a route between the legs of Mettam and into the net.

Into the final period and trailing by three goals, Bracknell needed a good start to get back into the game, but Telford controlled the puck for the opening minute.

And when Dan Davies and Joe Miller combined, with the latter tipping the puck past Mettam, the Bees found themselves four goals four down.

Just under half-way through the period and things got worse for Bracknell as they had to see of a Callum Fowler penalty.

The Bees scrambled the puck clear but Telford were creating chance after chance and when another penalty, this time for tripping, went against the hosts, the Tigers extended their lead once more.

Rick Plant was on hand to tip a loose puck away in a scramble in front of the Bracknell net.

For the dying minutes, Telford held possession, seeing out the remainder of the game and heading back north with two points.

Bees return to The Hive this Saturday for the visit of Peterborough Phantons (6pm), and then travel to Hull Pirates on Sunday (5pm).

  • Bracknell Bees’ match away at Manchester Phoenix on Sunday was postponed due to an ice plant failure at the Deeside rink. A replacement date for the fixture will be announced soon.