SHEFFIELD boss Marc Bates admitted his side were simply “beaten by a better team” after a heavy 62-30 defeat at Glasgow.
The Window Centre Tigers were well beaten on a disappointing afternoon at Ashfield as they missed out on the chance to boost their play-off hopes.
They travelled to Scotland without Jason Garrity after he withdrew late on with a hand injury aggravated riding for Elite League club Coventry on Friday.
With Josh Bates also struggling with illness they experienced a meeting to forget and could not prevent a fifth straight away defeat.
Team manager Marc Bates conceded high-flying Glasgow just had too much strength on home shale.
“Glasgow are a strong side and they were just much better than us on the day,” Bates said.
“Obviously Jason was missing, and Dimitri (Berge) has been up most of the night travelling back from his World Longtrack meeting which probably didn’t help.
“Josh has climbed off his sick bed after having tonsillitis to try and ride for the team but he struggled, and it was just a bad afternoon for us.
“All the lads have tried their best but it wasn’t good enough today and we were beaten by a better team.
“We still have a good opportunity to make the play-offs, so we’ll try and pick ourselves up and get something from Ipswich on Thursday.”
Kyle Howarth top scored for the Tigers with a hard-fought 11+1, including a 5-1 alongside skipper Simon Stead in heat 15.
Stead also ended with double figures after ending the meeting on a high by delivering their only race win in the final heat.
Australian reserve Arthur Sissis recorded four second places to add a creditable eight points – but Berge, Bates and Nathan Greaves all failed to defeat an opposing rider.
The Window Centre Tigers will be back in action at Ipswich on Thursday (7.30) before travelling to Somerset for the first leg of their League Cup semi-final 24 hours later.
GLASGOW 62: Richard Lawson 12+1, Richie Worrall 11+1, Rene Bach 10+2, Aaron Summers 10, Nike Lunna 7+1, Fernando Garcia 6, Danny Ayres 6. SHEFFIELD 30: Kyle Howarth 11+1, Simon Stead 10, Arthur Sissis 8, Josh Bates 1, Dimitri Berge 0, Nathan Greaves 0, Jason Garrity r/r.
