Mildenhall Fen Tigers supporters urged to roar team on during double header with Leicester Lion Cubs
Luke Muff hopes that the Mildenhall Fen Tigers' commanding victory over the Berwick Bullets on Sunday will help to inspire fans to pack out the terraces for the opening leg of the club’s National Development League (NDL) Grand Final Play-Off against Leicester Lion Cubs.
The popular reserve has urged supporters to show their backing for the team after they secured the club’s second biggest home victory since 1983 after slamming the Bullets 67-22 in the second leg of their NDL Play-Off semi-final to secure a 110-68 success on aggregate.
With the Lion Cubs now waiting in the wings to tackle the Fen Tigers on Sunday (2pm) in a double header, which will also see the conclusion of the NDL Knock Out Cup against the same opponents, Muff has encouraged fans to make it an afternoon to remember.
“We need even more of a crowd here against Leicester to get us going. We just want as much support as we can,” said Muff, who scored his first ever paid maximum (8+4).
“We will pull out all the stops to make sure it is an entertaining meeting and hopefully we can get the result we want.
“We just want to sort them out, ride hard and not give them anything. We just need to get our heads down and go. As long as the track was like it was today it should be fine.”
After succumbing to the Lion Cubs 55-29 in the opening leg of the NDL Knock Out Cup final 24 hours earlier, the Fen Tigers swiftly left that result behind them with a near flawless display.
Trailing the Bullets by three points after going down 46-33 in the opening leg, the Fen Tigers quickly set about reducing that deficit with an opening heat 4-2 from Jason Edwards and Josh Warren.
It didn’t take long for the tide to turn in favour of the hosts with Luke Harrison, who scored 11 in the opening leg, making his first ride on his home debut a winning one when leading home a 5-1 with Muff in heat two to put the Fen Tigers in command of the tie.
What was to follow was a procession by the hosts as they went on the rampage against a beleaguered Bullets outfit that offered little in the way of resistance to the Fen Tigers' charge.
A further two 5-1s, fronted by Warren and guest Danny Phillips, moved the Fen Tigers 14 points up on the day by the end of heat four before the one-way traffic was momentarily stopped by Bullets number one Kyle Bickley in heat five.
It proved to be only a momentary lapse for the Fen Tigers who then rattled over a seven further 5-1s, with the pick being of them coming in heat eight with Muff enjoying a tight tussle with Bickley to ensure he finished second behind Edwards, to put the meeting to bed.
Once again it was Bickley that prevented another 5-1 for the Fen Tigers in heat 13 when splitting Edwards and Phillips before Harrison became the youngest ever rider at 15 years and 123 days to secure a maximum with a fourth straight win in the penultimate contest.
Although the Fen Tigers duo of Warren and Alex Spooner, who until his exclusion in the concluding heat had scored an impressive 14 (12+2), saw them suffer a 4-2 reversal in finale at the hands of Bickley and Kieran Douglas, it failed to take the shine of the display.
“It was definitely my best ever performance for the Fen Tigers as I had never had a paid maximum,” said Muff. “I didn’t pick up any easy points and I had to fight for them all. It felt good beating their number one. If you have confidence and faith in your bikes that is half the battle.
“I just got to the tapes, put my head down and opened up. The track was really good today.
“The morale just went through the roof after getting all those 5-1s and they were done from the second heat.”
Scores
Mildenhall Fen Tigers 67: J Edwards 14+1, J Shanes r/r, J Warren 11+1, A Spooner 12+2, D Phillips (g) 10+3, L Harrison 12, L Muff 8+4.
Berwick Bullets 22: K Bickley 11, G Blair r/r, A Pijper 3, B Rathbone 2, L Crang 3, K Douglas 3, M Watson 0.