We rode like Muppets, says Drury

Furious Birmingham Brummies manager Graham Drury said his riders "rode like Muppets" in the promotion play-off semi-final against King's Lynn.

The Brummies appear to have blown their chance after a 47-43 defeat at home.

Drury told BBC WM: "When we had our league match at King's Lynn, the King's Lynn promotion played the Muppets tune, which I think was derogatory to us.

"But to be honest with you, some of the riders rode like Muppets tonight, and we've lost the tie."

Drury had stated before the meeting that he was looking for at least a 10-point lead from the home leg to take to Norfolk, with King's Lynn having been unbeaten at home in the League.

In the regular league fixtures, the Brummies beat the Stars by 19 points at Perry Barr and lost by 17 away from home.

On Wednesday night the Brummies were six points clear after six heats, but after captain Jason Lyons blew an engine in heat seven, they failed to win another heat until heat 14.

"That did seem to be the turning point," said Drury. "But I'm very disappointed for the fans. We had a very good crowd here tonight, good atmosphere here.

"We needed at least 10 points to take from here, to go down by any amount [makes it] a near-on impossible task, and I feel sorry for the supporters, I feel they've been let down this evening.

"We were all fired up before the meeting, and we started off on plan to build up the lead we were looking at. Whether all the riders heads dropped after Jason's engine failure, I don't know, but certainly that shouldn't be the case.

I will praise my riders when they deserve to be praised, and I'll slate them when they deserve to be, and tonight wasn't the performance expected of Birmingham Speedway

Brummies boss Graham Drury

"They're professional sportsmen, and getting knocked out of this competition is going to cost them a lot of money, because instead of going on until the end of October, next week will almost certainly be the last match so it'll hit them in the pocket."

Drury has all but written off his team's chances of causing an upset at the Norfolk Arena next Wednesday.

"It's virtually impossible. The riders haven't got my sympathy," he said.

"I will praise my riders as much as anybody when they deserve to be praised, and I'll slate them when they deserve to be, and tonight wasn't the performance expected of Birmingham Speedway."