SHEFFIELD boss Simon Stead praised the “spirit” of his side after another tough defeat at high-flying Edinburgh.
Depleted Tigers went down 54-36 at Armadale as they sorely missed the scoring power of No.1 Charles Wright.


But Stead admitted he at least had some positives to dwell on with the excellent performances of Kasper Andersen and James Shanes.
The young Dane signed last week and produced an outstanding display around the tight Scottish circuit with 13 while Shanes picked up a fighting paid 12.
Stead said: “It was never going to be easy without Charles and Connor Mountain, especially as the boys are so low on confidence.
“I wasn’t expecting Kyle Howarth and guest Mason Campton to struggle. Their past performances around Armadale have been fantastic.
“But Edinburgh are flying right now so I was actually encouraged by the fight and spirit of the whole side. Kasper and James were brilliant.
“I take a lot of positives from the performance, that’s small consolation for our recent run. But at least the spirit was back.”
Edinburgh are the opponents at Owlerton on Thursday night but Andersen was delighted to put in a good display.
He said: “I was told by a few people that Edinburgh was a really hard place to come. But I like small tracks and I enjoyed myself. I obviously want to come to Sheffield and show people I can do a good job and win races and I’ve done that tonight.”
Edinburgh 54: Richie Worrall 15, Erik Riss 13, Ricky Wells 9+2, Victor Palovaara 7+2, Josh Pickering 4+2, Joel Andersson 4, William Lawson 2+1.
Sheffield 36: Kasper Andersen 13, James Shanes 10+2, Todd Kurtz 6+1, Kyle Howarth 4+1, Mason Campton 2, Broc Nicol 1+1, Joe Lawlor 0.