Wolverhampton Wolves v Sheffield Tigers

SHEFFIELD are in pole position for the Sports Insure Premiership Grand Final after a brilliant performance to win 50-40 in their semi at Wolverhampton on Monday.

The Tigers, patched up due to their injuries with three guests involved, found themselves four points down early on but they levelled with a 5-1 in Heat 9 and then pushed on for a big away win in the first leg in front of a huge crowd at Monmore Green.

Robert Lambert (12+1) was unbeaten after a third place his first ride, and his Heat 15 5-1 with fellow stand-in Richard Lawson (10+1) took the margin to ten points heading back to Owlerton on Thursday.

Kyle Howarth, Josh Pickering and Chris Holder all chipped in with two race wins apiece as Wolves again suffered disappointment in the home leg of a semi-final, with their top scorer being skipper Sam Masters on 7+1.

Sheffield boss Simon Stead said: “It was 100 per cent effort from every single one of the lads.

“They rode their socks off in every single heat, they battled for places when they were out of positions, consolidated clever points in other heats and they did everything and more than I could’ve asked for.

“They were fabulous on track, they’ve been a great bunch of lads all helping each other in the pits as well and we’ve seen a fantastic result because of their hard work and determination.”

Wolves boss Peter Adams said: “When you look at the programme, they produced 11 race winners out of the 15 heats and no matter who you are, you can’t cope with that,” he said.

“You’ve got to produce a preponderance of heat winners in a match like this and we couldn’t do it.

“You need a good start, a good middle and a good finish; the start wasn’t too bad but the rest of it simply wasn’t good enough.”

SPORTS INSURE PREMIERSHIP PLAY-OFF, SEMI-FINAL, 1st leg
WOLVERHAMPTON 40: Sam Masters 7+1, Steve Worrall 7, Ryan Douglas 6, Zach Cook 5+2, Leon Flint 5+1, Rory Schlein 5, Luke Becker 5.
SHEFFIELD 50: Robert Lambert 12+1, Richard Lawson 10+1, Kyle Howarth 8, Josh Pickering 8, Chris Holder 6, Drew Kemp 4, Jason Edwards 2.

OFFICIAL REFEREE SCORECARD
Available here

Photo credit: STEVE FEENEY