Northampton Foxes come up short yet again to stay bottom of the Premiership
Northampton Foxes remain rooted to the bottom of the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership table after they suffered another defeat, going down 49-41 at Leicester on Thursday night.
It was sixth loss in seven starts for the Brafield-based team, and a fourth defeat out of four on the road.
The newly-formed team was once again competitive, and skipper Nicolai Klindt had a good night as he won three races.
That took his tally to the season into double figures, and there was more encouragement as Troy Batchelor produced his best performance of the campaign so far.
But the Foxes are still struggling to any sort of consistency.
It was another night of frustration for the Foxes, and team manager Chris Adams admitted the new outfit just ‘haven’t clicked’ as a unit yet.
“We kept on plugging away and to lose by eight away from home is a credible performance," said Adams.
“It was really Heats 10 and 11 which took the wind out of our sails.
“Nicolai won three races in succession after a slow start, and it was good to see Troy having a better night.
“We know what the riders are capable of and we’re looking for them to click together, but every meeting we’ve been to so far, all seven just haven’t clicked at the exact same time.
"When that happens, we’re going to be winning.”
The Foxes did have openings at the Hydroscand Arena, and they would certainly have been closer but for the Leicester opening pairing of Ryan Douglas and Dan Thompson who did significant damage on the night.
The early stages were tough with the Foxes conceding 5-1s in Heats 1 and 4, although there was an excellent ride by Jonas Jeppesen to pass Joe Thompson and win Heat 2.
Batchelor shocked the home crowd by going from third to first in Heat 3 only to be re-passed by Sam Masters, but the Foxes still shared the race when home man Kyle Howarth crashed on the last bend.
Trailing 15-9, Northampton got back into the meeting with a 5-1 in Heat 5 from Jaimon Lidsey and Kye Thomson, the latter re-passing Howarth for second place with the Lions rider subsequently retiring and pulling out of his remaining rides.
Douglas and Dan Thompson added their second 5-1 in Heat 6 but the Foxes worked hard to contain their hosts, with a 4-2 in Heat 7 as Batchelor took the win with Niels-Kristian Iversen holding second place for nearly three laps before Drew Kemp split the Foxes.
Another 4-2 in Heat 9, this time from Klindt and Jeppesen, meant there were just two points in it, but the meeting swung in the next two races.
Iversen and Batchelor led away in Heat 10 but a fine ride by Dan Thompson saw him hit the front, and Douglas then worked his way through from fourth to second, passing Iversen on the run to the line for a turnaround 5-1.
The home side backed that up with a second maximum on the spin in Heat 11, this time from Nick Morris and Kemp over Lidsey and Thomson who had mechanical trouble on the third lap.
A comeback from there was going to be tough, but the Foxes did what they could and they were on a 5-1 again in Heat 13 before Douglas and Morris both forced their way past Lidsey for a 3-3.
Klindt was an impressive winner of the race, and he was introduced into Heat 14 for a tactical substitute ride where he combined with Batchelor for maximum points with the race awarded after Morris fell on lap three.
But it was the Douglas/Dan Thompson pairing which had the final say in a dramatic Heat 15 where Douglas piled through on the inside of both Foxes riders whilst Thompson managed to overcome Klindt but just couldn’t complete an unbeaten score as Batchelor held on for second place.
The Foxes are back in action on Monday when they travel to second-from-bottom King’s Lynn, before a big night at the Shaleway next Thursday (July 9) when they host league leaders Belle Vue.
Th Manchester side have won seven out of nine meetings, sit five points clear at the top of the table, and include World No.2 rider Brady Kurtz in their side.
Leicester 49: Ryan Douglas 12+2, Dan Thompson 12+1, Sam Masters 9, Nick Morris 7+1, Drew Kemp 5+1, Joe Thompson 4+1, Kyle Howarth 0.
Northampton Foxes 41: Nicolai Klindt 10, Troy Batchelor 9+1, Jonas Jeppesen 7, Kye Thomson 5+1, Niels-Kristian Iversen 4+2, Jaimon Lidsey 4, Luke Harrison 2+1.