Angry Sheffield Tigers boss left in the lurch

Garrity, a 22-year-old Mancunian, suffered an arm injury in the British Final last week but was given the green light to ride for Sheffield in their home meeting with Rye House on Thursday – but this was subsequently washed out.

He then accepted a guest booking to ride at Leicester in an Elite League clash on Saturday where he aggravated the injury and he has now been told by medics to take a week off.

Bates has revealed he didn’t even know Garrity was riding on Saturday – and that makes the situation worse.

He said: “We didn’t know he was going to ride at Leicester and because he aggravated the problem he will miss important meetings for us and also for Coventry Bees, his Elite League side.

“It’s frustrating but we’ll just have to get on with the job. Redcar will come here with a team of track specialists so we know we’ll have to be on the gas while if we’ve any realistic ambition at the top then we’ve got to bring something home from Friday’s return.

“It’s a busy time for the lads but we will have to stick together and try and secure the points.

“Our backbone is our home form but we need to keep that going against Redcar and then see if we can get something out of the away match.

“It’s so frustrating to be without Jason, particularly as the club didn’t know about it.

“We just hope he recovers well and he can be back with us very quickly.”