Boss stays Steadfast as Tigers start sluggishly

SIMON Stead says the self-belief within his Sheffield Tigers team played an essential part in their comeback at Birmingham on Monday, as they continued their stuttering start to their Premiership title defence.

The Tigers fought back from ten points down to earn a draw at Perry Barr before then claiming the Super Heat by a margin of 7-2 which saw them leave with two league points.

Whilst Stead was disappointed to see another slow start from his team - beaten by Oxford in their season-opener last Thursday - it is not something that overly concerns him in the long run.

But he is proud that his riders are once again already showing mental resilience and is glad to be up and running.

“I’m pleased that we’ve got points on the board,” said team boss Stead.

“It was a difficult one; fair play to Birmingham, they looked really sharp and we didn’t.

“But it’s early days for us, we haven’t had a great deal of track time and I think that shows in the early heats.

“When we do get dialled in we seem to come back strong.

“They never know when they’re beaten, we’ve got a great team spirit, they’re all fighting for each other, they were all thinking that we could get back into it and that’s what we did.

“Again, plenty of positives, we’ve got points on the board like I said and we’re looking forward to finally getting a home meeting in at Sheffield on Thursday.”

That fixture at Owlerton sees the Tigers host Oxford with the Spires leading 47-43 with the aggregate point also on the line.

On Monday night, Tai Woffinden led the way for Tigers with 15+1 points, while Jack Holder added nine points and Jack Pickering eight.

Captain Kyle Howarth contributed 5+2 for last season's Premiership champions.