SHEFFIELD boss Simon Stead admitted his injury-hit side ran out of steam as they were beaten 53-37 at Leicester on Thursday.

For the second away meeting this week, the Tru7 Group Tigers raced without their top two Grand Prix stars Jack Holder and Tai Woffinden.

On Monday, the Owlerton outfit were able to take Oxford to a last heat decider.

But at Leicester, despite threatening a couple of mini fight-backs, they only provided four race winners against a Lions side desperate for points in their push for the play-off places.

Said Stead: “I think the result feels worse because we did so well at Oxford and I’d hoped that we could continue that momentum.

“But we just ran out of steam covering two of the best riders in the league with R/R and a guest is, obviously, very difficult.

“We came up short, Leicester were riding really well and we didn’t perform as well as what I would’ve hoped for.

“But having said all of that, over the course of the last two meetings I’ve asked for a lot from the lads and everyone has been putting a shift in.

“So it is difficult and it can take its toll and we may have come up short but it certainly wasn’t for a lack of effort.

“We’ve got a couple of weeks off now for the Speedway of Nations so it’s a chance for us to regroup, give Jack some time to come back and hopefully we can be all guns firing again.”

Sheffield still sit four points ahead of fourth placed Oxford and have meetings in hand on the two sides above them in the league table.

The Tigers resume their ROWE Motor Oil Premiership league programme when they host King’s Lynn at Owlerton on Thursday, July 18 (7.30pm).

ROWE MOTOR OIL PREMIERSHIP R2:
LEICESTER 53: Max Fricke 14+1, Sam Masters 10+1, Richard Lawson 8, Ryan Douglas 7, Luke Becker 6, Craig Cook 5+2, Sam Hagon 3.
SHEFFIELD 37: Chris Holder 13+1, Troy Batchelor 8+1, Josh Pickering 7, Kyle Howarth 6, Dan Gilkes 3+1, Jason Edwards 0, Jack Holder R/R.