SHEFFIELD boss Simon Stead felt his side exceeded all expectations as they took Oxford to a last heat decider on Monday.
Despite being without their top two riders in Jack Holder and Tai Woffinden, who both crashed out of Saturday’s Grand Prix in Poland, the Tru7 Group Tigers were able to take things down to the wire before missing out 48-42.
Nothing could separate the two sides with ten races gone, but ultimately, three 5-1s in the final five heats was enough to see the hosts over the line as they boosted their own play-off push.
“I don’t think anybody really expected us to do much without Jack and Tai,” Stead said.
“So the fact that we hit 40+ points considering the circumstances with the team was a brilliant effort.
“The job was always going to be difficult when you lose two riders with the calibre of Jack Holder and Tai Woffinden, but I was so proud of the rest of the lads.
“They certainly didn’t feel sorry for themselves or anything like that, in fact they probably bonded together even closer.
“They were spurring each other on, both on and off track, and the teamwork in the pits in terms of all rallying around and mucking in in between races was absolutely fantastic to see.
“I thought it was a great advert for speedway though and it was everything they would’ve wanted in front of the TV cameras.
“A last heat decider, the scoreline kept things interesting throughout and on top of that I thought we saw some really good racing.
“As a club we’d like to thank Oxford for their co-operation in allowing us to change our riding order on the morning of the meeting; credit to them for being so accommodating and it’s something I’d like to see more of at this level.”
The Tru7 Group Tigers are back on the road this Thursday (July 4, 7.30pm) when they head to Leicester for their final ROWE Motor Oil Premiership fixture before a fortnight off for the Speedway of Nations.
ROWE MOTOR OIL PREMIERSHIP R2 OXFORD 48: Rohan Tungate 14, Chris Harris 11+2, Maciej Janowski 8, Erik Riss 5+1, Charles Wright 4+2, Ashton Boughen 4+1, Drew Kemp 2. SHEFFIELD 42: Chris Holder 14, Josh Pickering 10+1, Kyle Howarth 8+3, Lewis Kerr 5, Jason Edwards 4+1, Dan Gilkes 1+1, Jack Holder R/R.
