LIONS SECURE CUP FINAL PLACE
LEICESTER ended Sheffield’s reign as Premiership KO Cup holders with a 46-44 win at Owlerton to reach their first top-flight Cup Final since 1975.
The Lions took an 18-point lead to South Yorkshire for the second leg of their semi-final, and then stunned the Tigers by racing into a 21-9 advantage on the night to eliminate home hopes of a comeback.
The match itself went down to a last-heat decider with Lions skipper Max Fricke holding his nerve to defeat Jack and Chris Holder after a tight battle, and they went through by 20 points overall.
Fricke scored 12 from six rides for the visitors with Ryan Douglas adding 10 in a solid team display, whilst Jack Holder led the Sheffield scoring with 11 despite conceding a 5-1 in Heat 1.
Leicester manager Stewart Dickson said: “We got off to a really good start, and I did say that the choice of gates could be very important.
“Credit to both teams; they were still throwing their bikes at each other in Heat 15, enjoyable to watch and an enjoyable meeting from our point of view.
“Tonight is about us, we got to the Final, we got the job done and we never got put under the pressure that I was expecting.”
Sheffield boss Simon Stead said: “It was always going to be a tough task, but I just feel like nothing really went our way from losing the toss to gate swing, and it just felt like we were on the back foot all night.
“It would’ve been nice to rescue it at the end and at least finish with a win because we all don’t like losing at home, but I just feel like we’re battling against it at the moment.
“Look, no excuses though, over the course of the two legs we’ve got absolutely schooled, so we need to go back to the drawing board and we need to find some improvement.”
Leicester will now face either King’s Lynn or Ipswich in the Final, with the second leg of the East Anglian rivals’ tie taking place on July 17. Lynn lead by six points going into the decider in Suffolk.
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Photo credit: CHARLOTTE FLANIGAN
