SHEFFIELD were well beaten 53-37 by rivals Scunthorpe despite some entertaining action at Owlerton in the club’s 2000th fixture.
It was another disappointing result for the Tigers who were looking to respond to last Thursday’s defeat to Lakeside.
But instead they suffered back-to-back home losses for the first time in over four years.
The hosts got their noses in front courtesy of a 4-2 from James Shanes and debutant Joe Lawlor in Heat Two.
But Scunthorpe hit back with four 5-1s in the space of five races.
Slow away from the starts, Sheffield were struggling and the visitors wrapped up the win with three races to spare after conceding a trio of consecutive advantages between Heats 10 and 12.
After his side were only able to register five race winners all night, team manager Simon Stead issued an apology to the Sheffield supporters.
“People will have read my comments after last week’s defeat to Lakeside and I can only echo those really,” Stead said.
“We were beaten by the better side and Scunthorpe just looked way more up for it than we did.
“Again it’s not acceptable and the riders need to take another long hard look at themselves.
“We’ve addressed them and told them our supporters deserve better.
“They’re the ones giving up their Thursday nights to come to Owlerton and spend their hard earned money to cheer the team on.
“Yes they’ll have been entertained by some of the racing that went on, but they also expect much better results wise.
“These past two home meetings have been very hard to swallow.
“But as I’ve said, we’ve made it abundantly clear that we’re not happy, now it’s down to them to turn things around because the Sheffield supporters deserve so much better and I can only apologise on their behalf once again right now.
The Tigers are back in action next Thursday (August 9, 7.30) when they host Redcar at Owlerton.
SHEFFIELD 37: Todd Kurtz 10, Kyle Howarth 9, Lasse Bjerre 6, James Shanes 6, Charles Wright 3+2, Joe Lawlor 2, Broc Nicol 1+1.
SCUNTHORPE 53: Jake Allen 15+2, Jason Garrity 12+2, Steve Worrall 9, Josh Auty 8+1, Danny Phillips 5, Gino Manzares 4+1, Stefan Nielsen R/R.
