Sheffield Tigers v Leicester Lions

Report

LEICESTER smashed Sheffield’s long unbeaten home record with a dramatic 46-44 win at Owlerton as their winning run in the Sports Insure Premiership extended to five matches.

The Lions, who are up to second place in the table, raced into a 12-point lead within six races thanks to a hat-trick of 5-1s and then withstood a strong Tigers fightback in the closing stages of the meeting.

Jack Holder scored an unstoppable 18-point maximum for the hosts but reserve Kyle Howarth was their only other race winner as they just fell short despite a hat-trick of 4-2s in the final three races.

Max Fricke top-scored for the Lions with 10 and crucially split Holder and Tobiasz Musielak in Heat 15, whilst in-form Justin Sedgmen scored 9+2 and Richard Lawson (9) won three races.

Leicester boss Stewart Dickson said: “We got off to a good start, momentum is definitely with us now, and you can get into a habit of winning just like when you’re losing!

“I’ll be honest, I didn’t see us coming here and winning, and maybe that’s me not giving my team the credit that they deserve.

“It was a thoroughly entertaining meeting and we knew Sheffield would come back into it, but we held on in the and we got the win.”

Tigers manager Simon Stead said: “Any loss is disappointing, especially when it’s at home, so that hurts a bit.

“Congratulations to Leicester though, they came and brought it to us and were deserved winners in the end.

“We were asleep until Heat 7 and you can’t give a team with as much quality as Leicester a head start like we did.”

SHEFFIELD 44: Jack Holder 18, Kyle Howarth 8+1, Josh Pickering 6+1, Tobiasz Musielak 5, Lewis Kerr 3+2, Dan Gilkes 3, Adam Ellis 1.
LEICESTER 46: Max Fricke 10, Justin Sedgmen 9+2, Richard Lawson 9, Jake Allen 7+1, Nick Morris 5+1, Chris Harris 4+1, Drew Kemp 2.
Leicester win the aggregate point

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Photo credit: PHIL McGLYNN