SHEFFIELD suffered their heaviest home league defeat in almost five years as they were beaten 55-35 by Newcastle.
Tigers were again made to pay for being slow out of the starts as they fell to a fourth straight loss at Owlerton.
The hosts were able to register just one heat advantage on another disappointing and frustrating night for the steel city side.
Addressing supporters after the fixture, Sheffield skipper Kyle Howarth said: “Of course it’s another disappointing result and we just can’t shake off this losing run we’re on at the moment.
“Last season no matter what we did, we seemed to win wherever we went - this year it’s the total opposite.
“The management have tried everything to try and turn things around and they’re hurting just as much as the supporters because they’re Sheffield through and through.
“Losing like that hurts us as riders too but we just need to keep working as hard as we can to try and end the season on a bit of a high.
“As one of the riders and as captain I’ll hold my hands up and say as a team we’ve let everyone at Sheffield and ourselves down this season.
“This is a great club and everyone, particularly our supporters, deserve so much more.
“We know there aren’t many meetings to go now but the new look team will keep our heads up and we’ll keep fighting to give the supporters something to cheer about.”
Howarth top scored for the Tigers while Australian Todd Kurtz also enjoyed a solid night bagging paid double figures.
Debutants Kasper Andersen and Connor Mountain showed some encouraging signs on their first appearance for the Tigers with the latter rounding off his night with an impressive Heat 14 win over Matthew Wethers and Ashley Morris.
Guest No.1 Jason Garrity struggled until he secured a paid win in Heat 13 with a fine move to get by Newcastle No.1 Stuart Robson.
James Shanes gave it everything as always while Broc Nicol failed to score from three outings.
Tigers travel to Edinburgh on Friday - a full meeting preview will be issued on the morning of the fixture.
