National League Birmingham 51 Mildenhall Fen Tigers 39 Following Saturday evening’s last heat heartache, the Mildenhall Fen Tigers suffered more of the same in a spirited performance against Birmingham.

A devastating engine blow for captain Jon Armstrong followed by further problems with his second bike effectively put him out of the meeting whilst Danny Halsey also suffered as he shed a chain before the start of heat nine, forcing the hard-riding Fen Tiger to go off 15 metres.

The Fen Tigers struggled for heat winners with only the impressive Connor Mountain, on his return to the track where he suffered serious back injuries last year, recording three wins.

However they kept packing in behind the impressive heat leader trio of Birmingham and with a little more luck machinery wise could well have taken an important away point.

With the middle order of Luke Ruddick and Jordan Jenkins scoring valuable points along with a much stronger performance from Danno Verge the Fen Tigers travel to Stoke on Saturday in positive mood.

Acting team manager Phil Kirk was disappointed not to get a point from his teams efforts. He said: “It was a spirited effort from the lads tonight, the only luck we had was bad luck with Danny Halsey’s chain and Jon Armstrong’s serious engine blow plus a couple of decisions that went against us.

“But they stuck at it and showed what might have been in the second half of the meeting.

“Connor Mountain is clearly back to his very best which is so important to us, Danny deserved much more from his performance and Danno Verge gave us what we have been asking from him at reserve.

“The spirit within the group remains really strong and we go again Saturday evening as we look to secure our place in the semi final of the KO Cup.”

Scorers -

Birmingham 51: Liam Carr 14+1 (6 rides), Richard Hall 12 (4), Taylor Hampshire 11 (6), Jack Parkinson-Blackburn 9 (5), Layne Cupitt 3+1 (5), Alex Spooner 2 (3), James Chattin 0 (1) and R/R Tom Bacon

Mildenhall 39: Connor Mountain 13 (5), Danno Verge 7+1 (5), Danny Halsey 7 (5), Jordan Jenkins 6 (4), Luke Ruddick 4+3 (4), Sam Woods 1+1 (4) and Jon Armstrong 1 (4)