Sheffield Tigers heading in 'right direction' as Foxes are downed at Owlerton
SHEFFIELD TIGERS’ boss Simon Stead believes his team have made “massive steps” in the right direction as they look to kick-start their Premiership campaign.
The Tigers’ stormed to their biggest win of the season with a 58-32 trouncing of Northampton at Owlerton on Thursday.
For the second week in a row, a six man Tigers’ line-up produced the goods in fine style as each rider collected at least one paid win apiece with a blistering start setting the tone for the evening.
“I was really pleased with the overall performance and I was really pleased with some super strong individual displays also,” said a delighted Stead.
“We’ve made some massive steps in the right direction over the course of these past couple of weeks.
“I understand that people will say we were against a Northampton team that are trailing down at the bottom of the league - but we can only race against what’s in front of us.
“Regardless, we’ve found our feet a little bit these last few meetings and that’s a big positive at this stage of the season with a busy August ahead of us.”
The Steel City side opened with four straight 5-1s to cruise into a 20-4 lead and from there they never looked back.
Jaimon Lidsey (9+1) impressed winning two races for the Foxes, who were without reserve Troy Batchelor who was a late withdrawal with a reported knee injury.
Northampton team manager Chris Adams said: “It was a bit last minute so we had to have a quick ring around and we thank Freddy Hodder for jumping on board.
“It was a very difficult night for us though, and it was pretty much done after those first four races which all ended in 5-1s against.
“We finished off a little bit better, but Sheffield were by far the better team.”
Sheffield travel to King’s Lynn on Monday (August 3, 7.30pm) before hosting Leicester at Owlerton next Thursday (August 6, 7.30pm).
Sheffield Tigers - 58: Leon Flint 14+1, Anders Rowe 13, Josh Pickering 12+1, Chris Holder 9+4, Luke Killeen 7+1, Jye Etheridge 3+2, Jack Holder R/R.
Northampton Foxes – 32: Jaimon Lidsey 9+1, Kye Thomson 7+1, Niels-Kristian Iversen 6, Matej Zagar 4+1, Nicolai Klindt 4, Luke Harrison 2, Freddy Hodder 0.
Sheffield win the aggregate point 106-74.