TIGERS gave a superb all-round team performance in their 52-38 win over Rye House on a hugely enjoyable night at Owlerton.
It was the perfect response from Joe Screen's men after the boss called for more backing for skipper Simon Stead.
Stead notched 12 on the day he was named in the GB World Cup squad - but Ty Proctor celebrated a full house and reserve Taylor Poole was in the points.
The experienced Leigh Lanham carded 6+1 and was pleased with the result.
He said: "It was nice to get a good win under our belts. Obviously we haven't had the start to the season that we wanted, but everybody chipped in tonight and we have a few matches in hand, so it is good for the confidence. "
AS IT HAPPENED...
Tigers opened the meeting with a 4-2 heat advantage with Simon Stead winning heat one ahead of Edward Kennett with Simon Nielsen comfortably heading Luke Bowen in third.
Riding at reserve for the first time in 4 years, Taylor Poole won heat 2 comfortably with New Zealand GP Wild card Jason Bunyan pipping Josh Bates to give Tigers another 4-2.
A resurgent Leigh Lanham won a shared heat 3 before Ty Proctor and Josh Bates banged in a 5-1 in the the fourth.
Rockets gated on a 5-1 in heat 5 but Leigh Lanham managed to pass Eddie Kennett to pull the race back to a 2-4 to the Rockets. A late effort from Compton to pass Kennett came to nothing.
A superb first bend from Bunyan saw him build up a convincing lead over Stead in the next but with Simon Nielsen muscling his way past Steve Boxall on the final turn of the last lap, Tigers shared heat 6.
Tigers were fortunate in heat 7 when after gating on a 5-1 the Rockets were brought back to earth when Taylor Poole fell and the race had to be rerun. Procter gated this time and fought off the challenge of Tressarieu with Garrity falling and remounting to take third.
Heat 8 was awarded when after rubbing handlebars with Josh Bates for nearly 3 laps, Stefan Nielsen fell on the third bend. With no sign of Nielsen clearing the track a Sheffield 5-1 was the decision.
With the score at 29-19 after 8 races, Jason Bunyan wore the Black and white helmet colour in heat 9. Boxall gated and Compton rode a superb first bend, to slot into second. Bunyan had the attentions of Leigh Lanham to contend with and when Lanham passed Bunyan at the end of lap 2 Bunyan's desperate attempts to get the place back resulted in him sliding off on the first bend of lap 3. With Compton narrowly missing out on passing Boxall the heat was shared.
Rockets out gated the Tigers pair in heat 10 which resulted in a rare 5-1 against Simon Stead and his partner to bring the Rockets back within 6 points.
Aussie duo Proctor and Poole reinstated the 10 point lead when they out gated Kennett and Bowen in the 11th. Proctor won by half a straight with Poole winning the battle with Kennett for second.
Leigh Lanham was controversially excluded in heat 12 after what appeared to be first bend bunching. Lanham was on the outside of the Rye pair as they moved out towards the fence and was left no room. In the rerun The Rye pair made no mistake and carded a 5-1 to brig the score to 39-33 at the interval.
In 13, Kennett made the start but with Stead passing him on the inside on turn 3 and Proctor passing him on the outside on turn 4, it was Tigers that took the heat advantage 5-1.
Jason Bunyan took a reserve ride in Heat 14 as Rye fought for the point. With Poole passing Garrity to win the race and with Compton passing Bunyan, Tigers made sure of all 3 points.
In the final race, Simon Stead and Taylor Poole registered a 4-2 to round off a good night's work.
SHEFFIELD TIGERS Simon Stead 12 Ty Proctor 11+1 paid max, Taylor Poole 9+1, Josh Bates 7+1, Leigh Lanham 6+1, Simon Nielsen 4+2, Andre Compton 3
RYE HOUSE ROCKETS Matt Tressarieu 11+1 Jason Garrity 7+2, Jason Bunyan 7+1, Eddie Kennett 5, Luke Bowen 4, Steve Boxall 4, Stefan Nielsen 0
