TIGERS WIN DESPITE ABSENTEES

SHEFFIELD produced a remarkable performance to beat Leicester 50-40 – despite being without three of their regular riders.

Already missing Josh Pickering (shoulder injury) and Dan Gilkes (concussion), the Tigers also lost No.1 Jack Holder in the build-up to the fixture following the birth of his first child.

But that didn’t thwart the home side who delivered a solid six-man display to add three league points to their ROWE Motor Oil Premiership tally.

Chris Holder led the way with 14 points and Tai Woffinden added 11 with skipper Kyle Howarth back to form on 9+1, whilst Ryan Douglas (10+1) and Richard Lawson (9+1) led the way for the Lions.

Sheffield boss Simon Stead said: “I am really proud because there’s no doubt that confidence was knocked a little bit after the disappointment of the Ipswich result.

“But to turn around and have a response like that with not our usual 1-7 was a great response.

“I’m happy with the lads; everybody did their job and we got points from every area. It was a tough meeting for the middle order against such a well-balanced team so the fact that we saw Kyle somewhere back to near his best was great to see.”

Lawson said: “We were just off the mark and not firing at all really which was a bit of a shame.

“I knew they had Jack missing, with which the way he’s been going I thought that would’ve helped us.

“We struggled getting off the starts with consistency and that was making life hard for ourselves when they’re that quick.”

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Photo credit: CHARLOTTE FLANIGAN