WILL Pottinger has sung the praises of his Cradley side ahead of their Easter Monday trip to Coventry.

Heathens picked up a bumper home win over King’s Lynn in the National Shield last week – the margin of victory was a shock – followed by a predictable win at Scunthorpe in their opening league outing.

He said: “Last week’s home meeting against King’s Lynn certainly went far better than I was expecting.

“I was confident we could beat King’s Lynn by a decent double figure margin, but never in my wildest dreams would have thought we’d win by 46 points! Ten 5-1’s and zero last places was a fantastic achievement in only our second home meeting of the season.

“Steve Worrall was in a class of his own and it was good to see Max Clegg get a paid maximum.

“Tom Perry just fell short in heat 15 but his performance was much improved from the previous week against Coventry. Paul Starke got better as the night went on in his first home meeting and Matt Williamson is fast becoming a specialist at beating the opposition’s number one after already claiming the scalps of Stefan Nielsen and Lewis Rose. Paid ten was a great return from Danny Phillips, despite a big crash in heat 4 and it was also pleasing to see Nathan return to form with two wins and end the night with a smile on his face.”

Sunday’s thumping win at Scunthorpe came as no surprise – but Pottinger was still delighted.

He said: “You can only beat the opposition that’s in front of you and while I applaud Scunthorpe giving youngsters a chance, I do wish they were more competitive.

"Everyone was very professional with the excellent job they did on track - all the riders scored well and there could be no complaints with the performance in the end.

"Of course it's always nice to kick off your league campaign with a win and all four points as well.

"We know we are going to have tougher tests ahead but everyone is feeling confident at the moment - we've started the season well and feel like we can have another good season."

Heathens are at full strength for Monday’s trip to Brandon before returning to Monmore for the visit of Buxton on April 29.