Any lingering hopes the Fen Tigers may have held of a top-four finish and qualifying for the end of season Gold Cup, all but disappeared as a tight meeting turned on a highly contentious refereeing decision in heat ten.

East Anglian Daily Times: Fen Tigers' Connor Mountain (red) leads Stoke's Chris Widman (yellow) and Connor Coles (blue)Fen Tigers' Connor Mountain (red) leads Stoke's Chris Widman (yellow) and Connor Coles (blue) (Image: All rights reserved. Jeff Higgott sequella.co.uk 07972 784425)

With virtually the whole stadium expecting an ‘all four back’ call when Mildenhall skipper Danny Halsey fell on the second bend, the meeting referee saw things differently and excluded the Fen Tigers, No.1.

The resultant 5-1 for the visitors turned the meeting on its head and try as they could, the Fen Tigers could not claim back the lead in the remaining heats.

Up until this point it had been nip and tuck as the sides battled for any kind of supremacy, and after nine fiercely-contested heats it was all square at 27 each.

Although the Fen Tigers won each of the last four heats with two stunning passes from Halsey in heats 13 and 15, plus fine rides for Connor Mountain and Connor Coles, the top end experience of ex-Fen Tiger Jon Armstrong and the highly impressive Lee Payne saw the Potters home.

The Fen Tigers management will take some satisfaction from seeing young reserve Luke Ruddick return after a lay-off due to a leg injury but the defeat will leave a sour taste.

The Fen Tigers will need to regroup ahead of next Sunday’s National Trophy fixture at home to Kent (3.30pm) before embarking on a four meeting weekend across the late August Bank Holiday weekend.

During today’s interval the annual Riders Benevolent Fund collection took place and an excellent sum of £569.34 was collected.