Stewart Dickson has declared the race for the Premier League title under way – and believes his Glasgow Tigers will have to fend off a handful of teams to land the silverware.
Dickson’s men were in superb form to put high-flying Sheffield to the sword at the Peugeot Ashfield Stadium last night with a 53-40 win live on Sky Sports.
According to the Tigers team boss, the night was a massive success with close racing, plenty of incidents and a bumper crowd.
Now the focus turns to tomorrow night when Glasgow visit Ipswich in their first away league match of the season, and Sunday’s visit of Scunthorpe, as they play catch-up to other sides who already have points on the board.
Dickson said: “Last night had a wee bit of everything. The track rode well – but we had all day to prepare it. The weather tried its best a couple of times but it actually helped us because it gave us a natural watering. My thanks to Doc Bridgett for coming in and helping me. I leant on his experience a wee bit.
“Three points for us and nothing for Sheffield – that was the plan. I thought before the meeting we’d win by 12 or 14 when I heard that Ty Proctor wasn’t racing. There were a few good races as well, an excellent atmosphere and a good crowd, and a win.
“I know I keep saying it – we’re not quite firing on all cylinders yet. But we keep winning when that’s happening and that’s a good sign.
“We got the three points and it was good that they couldn’t add to their points because they’ve been building up a lot of points. We head to Ipswich on Thursday, weather permitting, and then welcome Scunthorpe on Sunday, so if we can add something else from those two matches, it will have been a good week for us.
“I’m sure 2014 Tiger Theo Pijper will be ready to prove a point on Sunday. But we’ve got riders who can beat him and I’m sure it’ll be another good match.”
Future Plans
Glasgow had to shake off the attentions of Sheffield in 2011 to win their last Premier League, and Dickson insists his side will have to do the same again this year if they’re to finish top of the pile.
He added: “I think Sheffield are one of a few teams that could win the league. Obviously the two Scottish clubs see themselves as strong contenders. I think Somerset are beginning to come to the party now, Peterborough are beginning to come to the party, and Ipswich had a wee blip but it’s too early to write them off. I think there are five or six that could be in the mix. Sheffield will certainly be one of them.
“These teams have got a couple of race wins already on the board and I’m not that concerned about it, but we’ve got a wee bit of work to do to catch up with them and the season’s just started. Once we start firing, we’ll be fine.
“We can go down to Sheffield and give them a really good match. They’ll be gutted to be leaving with nothing, they might think they deserved something, but I felt the result was just about right.”