Speedway: Sheffield Tigers must restore some pride

Speedway action: picture courtesy of Andy Garner

Sheffield have slumped to four straight defeats at Owlerton leaving the defence of the Championship title in tatters.

Now they face in-form Edinburgh tomorrow bidding to restore some pride in the final league clash at Owlerton this season.

Stead wants a massive display from the side. He said: “It’s obviously been a hard month or so for everyone at the club.

"We all feel for the fans so it would be nice to go out on a positive note.

“We’ve seen some progress over the past week with a more fighting display at Edinburgh and terrific performances from Kasper Andersen and James Shanes.

“Everyone at the club has been working so hard to turn it around. It’s too late now but at least we can finish with a win to stop the losing run, that’s the least we can do. We need a big performance.”

Kyle Howarth is mystified by the collapse of the side’s title hopes. He admitted: “If I could answer it, I would. Obviously it’s been a totally different year to last year.

“We were Champions and dominated the league last season. We went to Edinburgh twice and won and at Glasgow and it’s been so hard and no real explanation.

“I think it just takes one bad egg to upset the basket and I think we all know what that egg is. It upset the camp and the morale.

“But we need to move on. We feel sorry for the fans, they don’t deserve it nor do the promotion. And obviously as riders we don’t want this either.

“We need to finish the season and concentrate on building for next year, start afresh and come back stronger for everyone at the club.”

Sheffield bosses have already announced plans to reveal a first signing for 2019 – a new club asset – when they race tonight.

Said Stead: “The owners are determined, so am I, to start building straight away and we want the fans to know first.”

SHEFFIELD: Charles Wright, James Shanes, Kasper Andersen, Todd Kurtz, Kyle Howarth, Connor Mountain, Broc Nicol.

EDINBURGH: Ricky Wells, Victor Palovaara, Josh Pickering, Richie Worrall, Erik Riss, William Lawson, Joel Andersson.