Scorpions release Danny Phillips

HENDERSON INSURANCE Scunthorpe Scorpions have released reserve Danny Phillips with immediate effect.

The 22-year-old made his last appearance for Scunthorpe in the 46-44 victory over Sheffield Tigers on Friday evening, failing to score from four outings – his third successive meeting for Scorpions without scoring a point.

Danny was signed on the strength of the form he showed for Newcastle at the start of the 2017 season, prior to missing most of that season with a broken back and broken femur sustained at Mildenhall.

However, as with many riders returning from a serious injury, he has struggled to re-capture his form, and he has scored just 33 points from 23 appearances for Scorpions in 2018.

Scunthorpe promoter Rob Godfrey said: “Unfortunately, we had to tell Danny Phillips on Friday evening that we are releasing him.

“He just wasn’t the scoring the points. It wasn’t doing him any good, and it wasn’t doing us any good either. The crowd were starting to lose patience, and it’s not fair on anyone to continue with that situation.

“But it’s not just about the public reaction. I feel we’ve reached the stage of the season, where we should put in someone else and give them a go, with maybe a view to next year.

“Just to clarify, the cut-off for transfers has passed and we are voluntary stepping Danny down.

“What that means is we have ‘no facility’ as such, and we can only replace him with riders from the National League who don’t have a team place in the Championship or Premiership.

“I can’t bring in Drew Kemp or anyone like that, who is in someone else’s line-up in our league.

“But I’m prepared to do that, and we hope to find someone who can come in and plug the gap and score a few points.

“I’m genuinely sorry that it didn’t work out for Danny with us this season. Obviously, he was coming back from a very serious injury from last season. I wish him all the best for his future speedway career.”