King’s Lynn Stars v Sheffield Tigers

SHEFFIELD took full control of the League Cup Final with an impressive performance to win 51-39 in Monday’s first leg at King’s Lynn.

The Tigers put their Grand Final disappointment behind them to put themselves in pole position to land the silverware in the second leg at Owlerton on Thursday.

The scores were level at 30-30 after Heat 10 at the Adrian Flux Arena, but Sheffield raced to four 5-1s in the final five races, with the Stars’ only response coming in Heat 14.

Tobiasz Musielak (12+1) led the scoring with Adam Ellis (11+1) and former King’s Lynn man Lewis Kerr (10+1) also in double figures, whilst Frederik Jakobsen (12) and Thomas Jorgensen (11+1) led the way for the hosts.

Tigers boss Simon Stead said: “The lads did exactly what I asked and expected of them. They did not let me down one little bit, they just showed their professionalism and their want to do well for this club.

“They were all disappointed with what happened on Thursday and I think we saw what that meant to them tonight, going out there, getting straight back at it and doing a fine job.

“We know we are only at the halfway stage, we know what can happen in this sort of meeting and we have not won it, we have just made life a little bit easier for ourselves on Thursday when we will have the same commitment and determination.”

King’s Lynn manager Alex Brady said: “I am full of disappointment. We came here expecting the score to be the reverse of what it was, we couldn’t make a start in a lot of the heats and it was nip and tuck early doors.

“I felt we had found something that worked from Heat 5 onwards but it did not quite work for us.

“We will try to claw it back as best we can on Thursday but there is no hiding that this was a really disappointing night. We were beaten by the better team.”

LEAGUE CUP FINAL, 1st leg
KING’S LYNN 39: Frederik Jakobsen 12, Thomas Jorgensen 11+1, Josh Pickering 5+2, Richie Worrall 5+1, Richard Lawson 5, Nicolai Klindt 1+1, Jason Edwards 0.
SHEFFIELD 51: Tobiasz Muslielak 12+1, Adam Ellis 11+1, Lewis Kerr 10+1, Jack Holder 8+3, Justin Sedgmen 4+1, Connor Mountain 4+1, Kyle Howarth 2.

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Photo credit: IAN BURT