COMETS KEEP HOPES ALIVE

WORKINGTON produced a remarkable mid-meeting burst to overcome Edinburgh 47-43, hanging on for victory in a last-heat decider at the GT Tyres Arena.

The Comets were six points down at the halfway stage of the Cab Direct Championship clash only to stun the Monarchs with a hat-trick of 5-1s to turn the meeting in their favour.

Edinburgh still took it to the wire with maximum points from Jonatan Grahn and Paco Castagna in Heat 14, and they sent out the same combination for the decider – but whilst Grahn hit the front again, Castagna was kept at the back by home duo Troy Batchelor and Antti Vuolas.

The result keeps the Comets’ hopes of a late run to the play-offs alive, and their scoring was led by Vuolas with 11+1, Batchelor on 10+2 and Tate Zischke with 10.

Reserve Grahn scored 13 for the Monarchs with Castagna collecting 11+1, and whilst defeat means they are yet to confirm their play-off place, they did take the aggregate point which moves them closer.

Castagna said: “It is a shame we lost – Heats 9, 10 and 11 killed us completely. I feel like we should have won and got all three points, but it is not all negative.

“Some of us had a good night, some of us a bad one but again we do it as a team. I felt we were stronger overall we just let the meeting get away from us in those heats.

“We got the bonus though, so it’s not all bad and that helps us for the play-offs.”

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Photo credit: DAVE PAYNE