King’s Lynn co-promoter Dale Allitt says internal, self-appointed pressure has proved to be of far more significance than noises from outside.
Allitt and his colleagues had to ride out a social media storm following a disastrous first week of the season which saw the MacInnes Stars fall to heavy defeats at both Wolverhampton and Sheffield.
In mitigation, Wolves then thumped Belle Vue at home by an even greater margin in their next home meeting, and the Tigers are many people’s favourites to take the league title.
But there was still no doubt that a home win over Wolves was required last Thursday to ease the early rumblings, and the Stars did just that as they came through 49-41 with the under-fire Krzysztof Kasprzak answering his critics in the best possible way.
Allitt said: “I think to be fair, whatever anybody writes on social media or anything, the biggest pressure is what us guys put on ourselves.
“We know what we can do, we all want to be here and even though we had a tough first couple of matches the team spirit has been fantastic.
“We have a great bunch of guys all helping each other, and that’s what builds through a year.
“Obviously it was nice to get the monkey off our backs with the win last Thursday, and there was some really good racing as well. KK has had a lot of stick, and it was great to see his performance because I don’t know what we’d signed in the first couple of meetings – he was brilliant against Wolves.”
The Stars’ next test is to build some home momentum, with Sheffield next up at the Adrian Flux Arena on Monday in the second leg of their KO Cup tie.
Any win over the Tigers would be a further confidence boost given their opponents’ recent record in Norfolk.
And the Stars also face an intriguing trip to newcomers Leicester in the league on Thursday, with the East Midlands side having encountered mixed fortunes on their return to the top flight.
