Isle of Wight Islanders 58, Mildenhall Fen Tigers 34 (National Trophy)

MILDENHALL Fen Tigers crashed to a heavy defeat against the Isle of Wight on a night to forget at Smallbrook, that dealt a massive blow to their hopes of retaining the National Trophy. With the inspirational Jon Armstrong forced to withdraw with a knee injury after two pointless rides, the Fen Tigers were always facing an uphill battle against the in-form Islanders.

Stefan Nielsen and Josh Bates battled valiantly, but with their team mates looking out of sorts, it was more a question of keeping the score respectable than getting a win. It was Nielsen and Bates who prevented the home side from hitting the 60 point mark by taking a 5-1 maximum in the final heat, seeing off Tom Perry and the previously unbeaten Ben Hopwood.

Afterwards Mildenhall chairman Kevin Jolly was in philosophical mood. “It was just one of those nights where we struggled. Fair play to the Isle of Wight, they thoroughly deserved the win. Stefan and Josh did well, but we were slow out of the gate all night and losing Jon was a big blow as well.”

Jolly confirmed that Armstrong has suffered a reoccurrence of an old knee injury. “He tweaked it in his first ride and, although he went out again, there was no way he could continue after that. Armo says he’ll be fit again by the weekend, but we’ll have to wait and see how he is over the next few days. In the meantime we’ll just have to take tonight’s result on the chin and regroup in time for the match at Stoke on Saturday.”

Isle Of Wight Islanders = 58

1. Tom Perry - 1’, 3, 3, 2’, 1 = 10+2

2. Dan Stoneman - 2, R = 2 Withdrawn Shoulder Injury

3. Ben Hopwood - 3, 3, 3, 3, 0 = 12

4. Darryl Ritchings - 1, 1, 2’, 2’ = 6+2

5. Tom Young - R, 2’, 0, 3 = 5+1

6. Adam Ellis - 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 = 15 Max

7. Brandon Freemantle - 2’, 2, 1, 1, 2’ = 8+2

Mildenhall Fen Tigers = 34

1. Stefan Nielsen - 3, 2, 4!, 1, 3 = 13

2. Aaron Baseby - 0, 0, 2, 1’ = 3+1

3. Josh Bates - 2, 1, 2, 1, 2’ = 8+1

4. Jon Armstrong - 0, 0 = 0 Withdrawn Knee injury

5. Daniel Halsey - 3, 2, 1!, R = 6

6. Liam Rumsey - 1, 1’, 0, 0, 1 = 3+1

7. Nathan Stoneman - 0, 1, 0, 0, 0 = 1