Speedway: Sheffield reserves praised after win over Ipswich, and crossed fingers after crash
Team manager Simon Stead reacts to Sheffield’s win over Ipswich
Sheffield speedway boss Simon Stead was pleased with his reserves after the club’s 51-38 win over Ipswich at Owlerton, and keeping his fingers crossed after Chris Holder’s late crash.
He was pleased with the result which gives the Tigers their first Rowe Motor Oil Premiership points of the season, and feels the club’s performances have been competitive.
He told The Star afterwards it felt like the win, the first since the 56-34 Knock Out Cup win over Belle Vue on April 3, had been a long time coming, after a bit of a steady start.
He said: “I know the results haven’t been wins, but when you look at the performances, taking our last home performance (against Leicester) out of the equation, actually, performance levels have been really good.
“We’ve knocked up 40 points plus in all our fixtures so far this season and I think under normal circumstances had it not been for a loss against Leicester, that would have been a pretty solid start.
“So I feel that we’ve had a better contribution from reserve and that’s probably been the difference. “
The meeting started with eight successive 3-3 tied heats.
He said: “I think when gates are difficult like they were early doors tonight, its hard to get any distance between the two teams, and as the gates settled down, and there were some other areas where we could work, then we managed to turn the screw.”
Of Chris Holder’s paid maximum, he added: “All season his form at Sheffield is consistently good so no complaints there and I have no complaints in the team - I’ve just needed a little bit more from the bottom end, and (there was) a really improved performance from Luke (Killeen) tonight - I’m delighted for him.
“Unfortunately Jye (Etheridge) picked up a bit of a knock, but it was great to see him get a couple of points on the board early doors, and also Luke’s response.”
On Leon Flint’s performance, which saw him notch two race wins he added: “His performances on the road have been very good and positive. I knew it was coming, it was just a bit of fine tuning and that’s come good.
Chris Holder suffered a crash which saw him ruled out of the last heat.
The manager said: “He’s a bit knocked about as you would expect, but lets keep our fingers crossed it’s nothing long term.”