Tigers ‘will be fired up’ for delayed Glasgow tie

The Sheffield Windows Tigers’ clash at Ashfield was rained off last night which means their crucial head-to-head at Owlerton tomorrow (Sunday) becomes the first leg.

Stead doesn’t believe that changes his team talk as they know will attempt to take as big a lead as possible to defend in Glasgow.

He said: “I don’t think it means anything having the first leg instead of the second. It’s all about just winning races and seeing how it works out. The boys will be fired-up for certain.

“You can’t go around over-thinking situations. We would have preferred the second leg normally but at the same time we have the ability now to put them under real pressure with a big lead from Owlerton.

“As we’ve seen from all the Champions League and Europa League semi-finals this week, it’s all about what happens on the night.

“You can be defending what you think is a comfortable lead and it can change in the blink of an eye. I’ve just got to make sure our boys and switched on.

“There was absolutely no chance that the meeting could have gone ahead at Glasgow. There was a sustained downpour for an hour and the track was a under a great deal of water.

“Neither side wanted to try and wait because the forecast wasn’t great and the rain was getting heavier. It was a sensible decision.”

Stead knows that the Scottish Tigers will pose a huge threat with Craig Cook leading the side, just 24 hours after he represents Great Britain in the FIM Monster Energy Speedway of Nations in Manchester tonight (Saturday).

Cook won the Championship Riders’ title at Owlerton at the end of last season and has only lost a couple of races since the start of the campaign.

Stead added: “Craig is the danger man, there’s no doubt about that. But he is just one rider and we’ve got a top three all formidable around Owlerton.

“We have strength in depth with a much stronger reserve pairing on paper and that’s where we will need to capitalise.

“We produced a much more solid display against Birmingham a week ago. Now we can build on that confidence hopefully against Glasgow.

“The boys are certainly feeling a lot better at home. We need to start well again and build up a big lead early in the meeting.

“I’m not setting any targets for the lead we need. Each rider just needs to win their own battles. If we just consistently get heat advantages, it should put us in a strong position.”