SHEFFIELD boss Simon Stead admits he’s gutted his side couldn’t retain their league title - but insists they’ll regroup and come back stronger next term.

The Tru7 Group Tigers won the home leg of their ROWE Motor Oil Premiership play-off semi-final against Belle Vue 50-40 on Thursday, but were pipped to a third successive Grand Final by just two points on aggregate.

It means the Owlerton outfit’s campaign comes to an earlier end than they had hoped for, but Stead says he can’t knock his team’s belief throughout the night.

“It was a good fight,” Stead said.

“The lads believed right until the very end and I can’t fault the effort.

“We came up just short in the end, it just didn’t quite fully click in these semi-finals for whatever reason.

“Ultimately, ourselves and Belle Vue have raced over the course of 30 heats for a place in the Grand Final and they have come out on top so well done to them.

“It’s difficult to take but we have to accept that, regroup and go again in ‘25.”

The Grand Final will now be contested between Belle Vue and Leicester over two legs next week.

ROWE MOTOR OIL PREMIERSHIP PLAY-OFF, SEMI-FINAL, 2ND LEG
SHEFFIELD 50: Chris Harris 12+1, Josh Pickering 11, Kyle Howarth 9+1, Chris Holder 6+1, Jack Holder 5+4, Dan Gilkes 5, Jason Edwards 2+1.
BELLE VUE 40: Dan Bewley 10, Brady Kurtz 10, Jaimon Lidsey 9, Antti Vuloas 7, Ben Cook 2+1, Norick Blodorn 1+1, Jake Mulford 1.
Belle Vue win 91-89 on aggregate