SHEFFIELD boss Simon Stead says his side need to improve on home shale after slipping to their first defeat of the season in South Yorkshire on Monday.

The Tru7 Group Tigers were narrowly beaten 46-44 by early league leaders Ipswich who continued their own fine start to the campaign.

Sheffield dominated the race winners chart against the Witches with ten to their name - but could only find three heat advantages throughout the super close contest.

Stead feels the absence of injured reserve Jason Edwards could’ve made a difference to the final outcome, but was frustrated by the overall support his heat-leaders once again received.

“Losing is always tough to swallow,” Stead said.

“It’s disappointing, we’re all hurting, but certain parts of the team were far from their best tonight and ultimately, Ipswich capitalised and we got caught short.

“We weren’t fielding our proper 1-7; Luke (Killeen) has come in at super late notice, and we thank him for that, but if Jason would’ve been here and popped out and done his normal thing then that would’ve made the difference.

“We know we need to improve at home, we have to work hard as a team, we’ve not been clicking all at the same time and that showed and that was our undoing.

“It is a tough one to take but our focus now has to shift to King’s Lynn on Thursday.”

SHEFFIELD 44: Tai Woffinden 14, Chris Holder 11, Jack Holder 8, Josh Pickering 6+1, Dan Gilkes 3, Kyle Howarth 2+1, Luke Killeen 0.
IPSWICH 46: Emil Sayfutdinov 8+1, Jason Doyle 8+1, Keynan Rew 8+1, Dan Thompson 7+1, Adam Ellis 6+1, Ryan Douglas 5+1, Jordan Jenkins 4+2.