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Mildenhall V Eastbourne NLPO Final 2ng leg 25-10-18@7-30pm


Super Blue

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As nobody else has started this I'll do it. 

Can the Tigers overturn a 19pt deficit? 

It's certainly doable as at one point during the KO final home leg they were 20pts ahead only to let it slip at the tail end of the meeting but they will certainly need to make a good start and keep it going. 

I'm not sure how Nathan Stonemans points tally will stack up to what a fit Danny Ayres would have scored but he has had a couple of very good points returns at West Row this season. 

Eastbourne have put together a very capable side and although I believe Mildenhalls full 7 would definitely have been less behind and would have triumphed overall I now believe it could be a very tight finish on Thursday. 

I'll be there to hopefully see a good meeting with the true league champions coming out on top ! (this statement is of course dependant on who you support) 

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Thanks for the blindingly obvious public information announcement. 

As I've said before on other threads it is what it is and the team that finishes top should be champions debate has been done to death on many occasions. 

I was just trying to build up to what is hopefully a great meeting with my own opinion made apparent. 

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4 hours ago, Super Blue said:

Thanks for the blindingly obvious public information announcement. 

As I've said before on other threads it is what it is and the team that finishes top should be champions debate has been done to death on many occasions. 

I was just trying to build up to what is hopefully a great meeting with my own opinion made apparent. 

lol, well you did kind of open up the debate with your last statement.

Eastbourne were the first team, I believe, to be on the wrong end of the playoffs by ending top of the league but losing o=in the final, so I am sure many of us will have every sympathy fore Mildenhall should they not win BUT it will be hard to take, being called unworthy champions after the same has happened to us.

By the way I always have and always will be anti playoffs and stated that at the very beginning, even getting a letter printed in the speedway star!

Would be nice to keep this thread on just the meeting though and like others, I think this is going to go either way, It would not surprise me ig Eastboune keep the meeting close to say 8-10 points but nor would it surprise me if Mildenhall win by 25+

Just looking at various riders and previous results its so hard to predict. Base has scored 4 at MH this year but he has also flown round there and top scored for us. Nathan has has some frighteningly good meetings and a mediocre one.

If I really had to call it, I would go with a last heat decider going Mildenhalls way but I dont know how much of that is the pessimist in me!

Either way, I think it will be a cracker of a meeting

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I think it will be down to the reserves......if one team's reserves can overhaul the other's second strings....then it's job done!

I have to side with Mildenhall because imo they deserve to be champions this season.

But Eastbourne have a great history and can make a case for adding the title to their name.

Wish it was being screened because it 's certain to be better than some of the sh#te BT have shown this season!

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This certainly has the potential to be one of the closest meetings ever? For most teams a 19 point deficit would be tricky to overcome but  Mildenhall have been a different animal this year. Obviously at full strength it looks a certainty but the tigers are injury hampered and that opens it up. Eastbourne have to aim for high thirties and pinch the tie. There are many key riders and any who has an off night could decide it. Either way it would be nice to see it go down to the wire with no contentious decisions and from a personal point of view Drew Kemp to score the decisive points in heat 15.

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Perhaps the choices of guest for the first leg will be decisive. I hope not. Mildenhall have gone about their business very well this season but you simply can’t allow for injuries at the back end of the season. I’ve seen a lot of Stoneman this year and he has been very impressive and If the reserves can hold their own 19 points is well within the Fen Tigers. Looking forward to a pretty decent meeting

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It's still all comes down to the playoff debate who deserves to be called champions , but can't see the 'authorities' changing it whether we like it or not. Personally don't like it, but it has been said before Eastbourne have a gain/loss ratio of 0 gained, 3 'losses' since 2002. If they do win the playoff, from day 1 of the season Connor Dugard said he was building a team not necessarily to top the league but be the best come the playoff final, suppose thinking of the improvement through the season of the likes of Edwards, Brooks, Brennen, with probably the unexpected phonominal form of Wood especially at home. So if they do grab the league from Mildenhall it will be planned and  deserved within the current rules,  doing the double proving it was no fluke, if Mildenhall pull it back, well done and well deserved , although think with the confidence the team are riding with at the moment, Eastbourne will keep the loss to 12, and if they keep an early Mildenhall onslaught under control could even be less . 

Edited by gazzac
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I agree that it would be a travesty if Mildenhall don't win the Championship - but the play-off's have been with us for ten years or so, and we all know the rules and the risks. King's Lynn have been the best Premiership team all season and it is just as much a travesty that  they are not champions, but taking into account the size of the crowd that Lynn had for the play-off final, you can bet your life that they will not be voting for them to be scrapped!

Nothing against Eastbourne who have built a cracking team from their own resourses, but good luck to Mildenhall this evening.

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3 minutes ago, Richard Weston said:

League and cup double for the Eagles. 

Remember that last year, Eastbourne topped the table and "won the league" but Belle Vue Aces were champions because of the Play Offs.

Remember, also Eastbourne "won the league" in 2002 and lost the Play Off - the first Play Off final, despite being the "best team in the league" in 2002.

Eastbourne built a team this year to qualify for the Play Offs and then win it. That was the strategy all along.

 

 

Very good Post 

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4 minutes ago, Richard Weston said:

League and cup double for the Eagles. 

Remember that last year, Eastbourne topped the table and "won the league" but Belle Vue Aces were champions because of the Play Offs.

Remember, also Eastbourne "won the league" in 2002 and lost the Play Off - the first Play Off final, despite being the "best team in the league" in 2002.

Eastbourne built a team this year to qualify for the Play Offs and then win it. That was the strategy all along.

 

 

Big achievement - however, if we'd had 2 heat leaders injured, we'd surely have lost.

Strategy, but with luck too.....

As an aside - I'm hoping the league next season will be more evenly balanced.

 

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Congratulations to Eastbourne, fully deserved over the two legs. Not Connor Dugard's biggest fan but he was spot on over the course of the season when saying that the league is won through the play offs, not in July/August. Injuries badly affected Mildenhall over the course of the two legs, Danny Ayres especially being a huge miss I feel. However, the Eagles have grown over the course of the season and I think they may even have nicked this over a full strength Mildenhall side tonight. The contest was over from the start with an extremely slick one line track. It didn't suit Mildenhall in the slightest with an inability throughout the side to gate well. Credit to Eastbourne though, on the ball from the start and killed the tie in the first four races. A word for Charlie Brooks who has come on massively this year and looks to have real potential, Jason Edwards too. I still feel that Kelsey Dugard riding for Mildenhall in the first leg made a complete mockery of the tie with him part of the Eagles camp tonight but that appears to be just how speedway is these days.

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1 hour ago, Speedway28 said:

Congratulations to Eastbourne, fully deserved over the two legs. Not Connor Dugard's biggest fan but he was spot on over the course of the season when saying that the league is won through the play offs, not in July/August. Injuries badly affected Mildenhall over the course of the two legs, Danny Ayres especially being a huge miss I feel. However, the Eagles have grown over the course of the season and I think they may even have nicked this over a full strength Mildenhall side tonight. The contest was over from the start with an extremely slick one line track. It didn't suit Mildenhall in the slightest with an inability throughout the side to gate well. Credit to Eastbourne though, on the ball from the start and killed the tie in the first four races. A word for Charlie Brooks who has come on massively this year and looks to have real potential, Jason Edwards too. I still feel that Kelsey Dugard riding for Mildenhall in the first leg made a complete mockery of the tie with him part of the Eagles camp tonight but that appears to be just how speedway is these days.

What on earth were Mildenhall thinking asking a Dugard to guest for them against his home team, his family team! 

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1 minute ago, cityrebel said:

A very professional job by Eastbourne tonight. They never gave Mildenhall a sniff at getting back in the tie. My only disappoinment was missing out on the fish and chips. The queue was far too long for my liking!

was it a big crowd or was it just that everybody who was there was starving ?

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Whilst im dissapointed that this Mildenhall side didn't win the tie Eastbourne did an excellent job, set a strong target at home and made sure they kept piling on the points at West Row. Obvious plaudits will go to Wood & Baseby but a real tie influencer was Charlie Brooks and all credit to Eastbourne who stuck by him through his earlier patchy form and allowed him to deliver the performances many knew he was capable of.

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Also sad to see that Mildenhall Speedway is up for sale. Whilst Mr Jolly maybe a interesting character there is no doubt his heart belongs to the club. Hope the initial AGM could be brought forward so prospective buyers will know the league format before committing as its difficult to see a queue of interested parties at any time and even more so with a winter of uncertainty ahead.

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Tonight's meeting  is off.   Mildenhall cannot raise a team.  Unbelievable. 

This was the season finale at Arlington when the fans can mix with the riders and get 'selfies' joining in the celebrations in centre green. Now they have been let down and the club lose what is normally one of the best gates of the year.

I can only imagine that some of the Tigers team are having a tantrum because they lost and don't want to be at Arlington when the celebration is on. I can think of no other explanation because we have all known about this fixture for some time.

In any event there must be plenty of riders out there who would have welcomed a final guest appearance to wrap the season up. Surely some of the Kent boys as well as Stoneman would have been up for it and with Lakeside still not finished Morley and Bowtell should be available. Nobody would have complained if they had even put out an over average side which would have made it more challenging.

I hope the SCB investigation is thorough and publicly announced because this cancellation quite honestly 'STINKS'  

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