Sheffield Tigers v Leicester Lions

Report

SHEFFIELD produced a dominant display at Owlerton to defeat Leicester 54-36 with Tai Woffinden enjoying a successful home debut.

Both Woffinden (12+2) and Tobiasz Musielak (13+1) were unbeaten until Heat 15 when they lost their maximums to Max Fricke, but by then the points were well in the bag.

Josh Pickering chipped in with 10+1 for the Tigers, who remain fifth in the table but with matches in hand over Ipswich, whilst Fricke reached 10+1 for the Lions who were unable to repeat the victory they enjoyed in South Yorkshire back in June.

Sheffield boss Simon Stead said: “It was always going to be a tough meeting against Leicester, who have already shown this season their liking for this place.

“So we knew that we were going to have to be on form whilst also integrating Tai into the team for his first home meeting, he’s not been here for a long time. But they absolutely delivered, didn’t they – it was a great performance.

“I was impressed with the way they conducted themselves all the way through the meeting; we built up a steady lead, they didn’t panic too much even when they pulled it back a little bit, we had a team meeting and then the lads came firing out of the blocks.”

Fricke said: “I think we all struggled a little bit to find our feet today, and that was a bit of a turnaround from the last one.

“But I’m sure they were fired up here as well, because we won last time, and they definitely showed it.

“We’ll keep working and we figured a few things out towards the end, so that will help us next time.”

SHEFFIELD 54: Tobiasz Musielak 13+1, Tai Woffinden 12+2, Josh Pickering 10+1, Lewis Kerr 7, Kyle Howarth 6+2, Adam Ellis 6+1, Ace Pijper 0.
LEICESTER 36: Max Fricke 10+1, Richie Worrall 7, Craig Cook 4+1, Richard Lawson 4+1, Jason Edwards 4+1, Justin Sedgmen 4, Jake Allen 3+1.

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Photo credit: PHIL McGLYNN