CRADLEY are expected to reveal their choice of opponents for this season's play-offs this weekend.

The Heathens, who have finished top of the National league table for the fourth time in five seasons, will have first pick for their semi-final showdown.

And they have booked Monmore Green for the home leg on Tuesday, September 23. With Coventry and Mildenhall already secure in the top four, Kent and King’s Lynn will battle it out for the last spot.

Heathens co-promoter Gary Patchett has paid tribute to the riders who have represented the club over the past five seasons.

In his programme notes for last night's Knockout Cup semi-final with Coventry, he also underlined the management’s desire to take the club up should it become possible.

He said: “When you think about it, finishing top four times in five seasons is a fantastic achievement and I must pay tribute to each and every rider that has pulled on the Heathens race jacket in the last five years but none more so than the current crop. These are a very special bunch of lads.

“Until last season, of course, whilst we had finished top of the regular season table we had, for one reason or another, come up short at the most important time.

“All those demons were exorcised last year when we achieved a clean sweep of all the competitions we entered. We're in a similar position now and every meeting between now and the end of the season will have a big reward attached to it.

“It's our task to make sure we keep our lads focused on the job in hand and take these important meetings one at a time.”

Patchett admits Cradley are at a crossroads when it comes to the standard of the league they enter next season.

“I think it's abundantly clear that this fish has outgrown the National League pond, in its current format,” he said. “We've already discussed the situation on several occasions but it's not as simple as saying we want to enter 'this or that' league and presuming everything else will fall into place.

“We're collectively working on getting together the other pieces of the jigsaw so that we can then, hopefully, announce that we can finally take a seat at a bigger table.”