WILL Pottinger has refused to press the panic button after seeing his Cradley side slip to a 50-40 defeat in Manchester.
Cradley wrapped up their regular leave programme at the new National Speedway Stadium and head into a vital week of Knockout Cup and play-off action.
Said Pottinger: "It's never nice to lose but the boys did their best at a track they've never seen before.
"Nathan Greaves came back in as a guest and did a good job for us and Ash (Morris) was superb as ever.
"I'm looking forward to next week now when Max Clegg is back with us and we can give it a good push.
"Hopefully they’ve come out of this better riders for the experience. It’s so vital at this stage in the season, particularly with the Play Offs looming, that you don’t go dropping points unnecessarily.
“We’re looking forward now to the business end of the season. We’ve got some tough matches ahead with some very good teams. We are the underdogs but that’s something we’re happy to be.
“Our target at the start of the year was at minimum to get into the top four, which we’ve done but now we’re there we want to go all the way and win the league, rather than end a damp squid!”
BELLE VUE 50: Matt Williamson 14, Jack Smith 12+1, Lee Payne 12+1, David Holt 5+2, Tom Woolley 5, Andy Mellish 2+2, Dan Bewley r/r.
CRADLEY 40: Ashley Morris 12, Nathan Greaves 11+1, Bradley Andrews 6+1, Tom Perry 5, Richard Andrews 4+1, Joe Lawlor (No.8) 1+1, Ben Basford 1, James Purchase r/r.
