The Heathens V Stoke Po Semi Final 1st Leg

[Heathen1984]

Who ever goes through tonight, cant see either team getting close to mildenhall.

[greyhoundp]

I said what I said as a Heathens fan! Stoke took advantage of a very, very poor performance. I paid for my season ticket to be let down when it mattered most. Stoke are in the PO but they are 22 league points behind us at the cut off point and the team's combined GS Average is 12 points behind ours!

Need I say more?

Can't blame injuries.........Adam swopped for the British U21 Champion in the NL should be same for same, JWW should have gone ages ago, BB's various injuries were an awful shame as he was back nearly to the BB of old! If DG had not got his racing head on after the awful crash at Mildy, perhaps he should not have ridden and got his body/head back together for tonight.

Even on the Dudley site WP says....."The former Cradley club made hard work of their long awaited home leg on Tuesday at Wolverhampton and wasted points through crashes and mechanical breakdowns." & “We're pretty gutted to be honest because we threw quite a few points away after being in good positions."

The managment say they care but do they really? Up to 2000 devoted Heathens fans were let down last night by JH, JWW & DG. TP, AM & DR did their best to gain the win....after all Happiness is 44-43 in your favour.

Potters should win at a canter if the same happens tonight, never know tho' Speedway is a funny game and we could just win and meet up with Mildy in the Final. We have done the impossible in the past!

As for the nights in the league available......that needs no comment in my opinion........we do not seem to have enough as we always stick to Tuesdays.......what actually is our declared Off Night? Wednesday or Sunday or the next available Tuesday that Ladbrookes allow?

There you are greyhound, an explanation of my total frustration as a Heathens fan since the Summer of '59!

Frustrations & rant over just as if I were at Cradley Heath's Charlie Wright's on a Thursday night back in the day, Season Ticket for 2013 will be on order soon and off we go again in whatever league my beloved Heathens are in in 2013!

 

Hahaha, thanks for the reply, you wer,nt the only one who was/is frustrated last night, i wont comment on individual riders at this moment in time, i said my piece at the start of the season, got vilified for it by some Heathens fans, but i have held my tongue on it since the season started, but suffice to say, we changed our reserves last season, when they were not doing it, but this year we have stuck with them, even though its been apparent to most where our weakness was/is .

 

Anyways on to tonight, It needs Joe to take care of AB, no reason why he cant, Tom to do what Tom does best, Ash to cancel out JC, and that gives us 36 points, thats from 5 rides from all of them, thats very do-able, we need another 9/10 more points from Dan, Darryl and the 2nd reserve, now bearing in mind both of Stokes reserves have been primarily Amateur League riders this season, 5 points should be there for the taking in Ht 2, which just leaves 4/5 points more from the 10 remaining rides of Dan, Darryl and the 2nd reserve, is it possible Yes of course it is, because except for Ashley Birks, rider for rider, we are the stronger team.

[21st century heathen]

Well that was interesting. No, hang on I don't mean interesting do I? Crap, yes that's the word I was looking for!!

 

Congrats to Stoke. Solid job on the night. It's a shame to read a couple of comments I've seen about Lee Geary's points haul. To finish first first you have to finish springs to mind. He rode safe and sensible lines on his first visit to Monmore, he stayed on the bike and was not let down by his machinery. You can't knock him for that. He deserved his points.

 

Some of the comments about James White Williams are starting to annoy me as well. He is hugely frustrating because he can gate with the best of them at this level but doesn't seem to be able to hang on to the promising positions very often. However, he signed on 4.53 and upped it to 4.88. You can't ask any more than for a rider such as James than to improve on the average he joined on.

 

I won't comment further because I'll just end up moaning about where it all went wrong. Big job on to get everybody in the right frame of mind and equipment ready for tonight. A draw will do.

[Brummie Kev]

First Time I've been able to go to a Dudley Match all season and I thought it was a decent match. Excellent crowd, I go to Monmore a few times to watch the Brummies and Ive yet to see a crowd anywhere near that last night, good number of Potters fans aswell. I'm not a massive fan of Porky on the green but I amazed how he keeps warm by just wearing a green heathens t-shirt all evening!!!. It was Freezing last night

 

All the credit must go to the Potters for that battling display but I did think the Heathens threw some points away with falls and engine failures. I was a bit disapointed with Joe Haines, I thought he would have been untouchable at this level and he knows the Monmore track well. In fact he didnt gate all night, and found it hard to pass the Stoke riders although he did give it a go which was the case in the race he fell. Joe's night was summed up in the Les Pottinger Memorial Trophy race , when his bike reared up when the tapes went up and he fell off the back.

 

The best Heathens rider was Tom Perry, afterall he was the only Dudley rider that didnt have an EF or a fall, he was brilliant. Ashley Morris started well but packed up on the line in Heat 8 and wasnt as good after that. Ritchings was impressive at reserve scoring 10+2 but even he had bike trouble when he packed up whilst leading in Heat 14. Dan Greenwood and James White Williams were poor, both suffered from falls,glad to see they are okay.

 

For the Stoke Potters, very impressed with Ashley Birks, nobody good get near him untill we saw a Tom Perry special in Heat 15. On another thread, I had Birks as NL rider of the year, glad I did after last nights performance. Wouldnt mind him riding for the Brummies in the EL next year in a doubling up role as he's scored plenty of points at PL level aswell.

 

Some good performance from the rest of the side, Cockle and Reade gave good support to Birks. Must admit I had never heard of Lee Geary before last nights match. He certaintly made an impression with a battling display at reserve. I thought Atkin would have scored a few more, but struggled a bit.

 

Overall though, Stoke did really well to only keep the Heathens to a one point lead going into tonights return

Edited October 10, 2012 by Brummie Kev

[21st century heathen]

Mostly a perfectly fair reflection on the meeting there Kev, though I have one major point to make. You state nobody got near Ash Birks until heat 15. That's not true mate. Both Ash Morris and Tom gave him a real run for his money in earlier heats, especially our Ash who was level with him and right on his back wheel throughout the heat.

 

Ash Birks has had an awesome season. He's in my PL dream team for next season.

[greyhoundp]

Well, Well, Stoke 41 The Heathens 54, which sees us through to the Play Off Finals, well done to all the lads, Lets hope we can have sensible discussions about Final dates,already NP has said the Heathens will stage there leg on Tuesday 23rd as a Double header with the 2nd leg of the KO Cup final, should be a Blockbuster.

Edited October 10, 2012 by greyhoundp

[junior fan]

As your name says, when are you going to grow up :lol: look back over many postings, and see if i have EVER agreed with Play Offs, give me a sound arguement in favour, except for saying a bigger than usual crowd. I will be up at Stoke tonight weather permitting, will you be watching YOUR Team in the Play Offs ?.

 

I dont have a team as im 15000 miles away but,

well done to Dudley ,hopefully now you can maybe go on and win the real trophy.

 

Cheers Junior

[shad176]

aawww joons thats the nicest thing you,ve ever said on ere mwaaahh

[berniev123]

Well, Well, Stoke 41 The Heathens 54, which sees us through to the Play Off Finals, well done to all the lads, Lets hope we can have sensible discussions about Final dates,already NP has said the Heathens will stage there leg on Tuesday 23rd as a Double header with the 2nd leg of the KO Cup final, should be a Blockbuster.

 

Well? What can I say??????????????? Followed all the meeting from Cradley on my PC as I could not get to Loomer Road. Speachless.

Another night and just like days of old when a phoenix rises from the ashes of possible defeat............41 - 54 & Won on aggregate!

Well done ALL the Heathens at Loomer Road on Wednesday night.

Roll on the 23rd October...........it would be nice to have a crack at Mildy twice in one night but I would prefer to see Mildy KOC & IoW PO Final just for a change in the double header!

[greyhoundp]

Another thing i would like to say about last night, was a big Thank you for Stoke on keeping the meeting running smoothly throughout, No long breaks between races, and this made it a thoroughly enjoyable evenings racing, I could see the disapointment on Dave Tatums face, but hey you had a few bob off us Heathens Fans to make up for it Dave, and i am sure you will be up there next season, and it was nice to see both Worralls in the pits, they look to be well on the road to recovery, along with Byron, who was hopping around and geeing up and offering support to the Heathens riders, especially the less experienced ones, along with Jan O giving words of advice both before and after every race, he would probably do it during the race as well if he could find a way.

 

Finally what can i say about the support, absolutely fan bloody tastic, we must be the "Barmy Army" of the Black Country, great to see "Porky" up and in there with us from time to time, would be nice to see Patch and CVS come in amongst us know and then.This attitude of seeming aloof from the supporters has to be shaken off, we all P*ss in the same Pot and They are no different, bcuz not only do they need to realise that without US they wouldnt be there, but also SHOW that they appreciate the support as well as the riders do.

 

Finally commiserations to Stoke, and a BIG well done to our guys.

Edited October 11, 2012 by greyhoundp