Heathens' play-off hopes hit by defeat at Mildenhall

The Heathens were well beaten on a tough afternoon at West Row just six days after losing their unbeaten home record at the hands of Birmingham.

With Ashley Morris on Premier League duty with Peterborough, Will Pottinger’s side were always set to face a tough test against the Fen Tigers.

But they were never in the mix for a consolation point and were condemned to a resounding loss on an afternoon to forget.

Team boss Pottinger admitted their performance was simply “not good enough” - but he paid tribute to the travelling Cradley fans for their support.

He said: “We’ve come to expect not getting hammered like that away from home, so personally I was very disappointed with that result.

“That performance just wasn’t good enough, we should be doing much better and we’ll certainly be looking for a big improvement over the rest of the season.

“We still have a number of matches, but if we’re going to make the play-offs we certainly need to up our game.

“I’d like to thank the supporters who made the journey, because they still supported is throughout and we really appreciate their efforts.”

Skipper Max Clegg offered the bulk of their resistance, with his double figure points haul featuring three impressive race wins.

Ellis Perks battled admirably as he guested for Morris in the number five race jacket, recording an impressive heat nine win.

But Luke Chessell experienced a mixed afternoon whilst Richard Andrews, Bradley Andrews and Ben Basford all struggled to make an impact.

The Heathens will now have a two-week break in order to regroup before travelling to Kent on Monday, September 5 (6.30pm).

MILDENHALL 60: Daniel Halsey 14, Jon Armstrong 12+4, Jordan Jenkins 12+1, Alfie Bowtell 9+1, Connor Coles 8+2, Sam Bebee 5+2, Kyle Hughes r/r

CRADLEY 29: Max Clegg 11, Ellis Perks 6, Luke Chessell 5, Richard Andrews 4, Bradley Andrews 3, Ben Basford 0, James Purchase r/r National League points: Mildenhall 3 Cradley 0