Scunthorpe Scorpions v Leicester Lions

LEICESTER took control of their KO Cup quarter-final against Scunthorpe with an emphatic 52-38 first leg away win.

Lions duo Kyle Howarth (14) and Ryan Douglas (13+1) both dropped just one point from five rides, but home No.1 Josh Auty uncharacteristically failed to score after a heavy Heat 1 crash with Nick Morris.

Thomas Jorgensen collected 11 for the Scorpions, who are left with the biggest of uphill tasks in the East Midlands next month.

Douglas said: “Scunthorpe looked pretty strong early on but we got stronger as the meeting went on, we settled down and got the set-up and it was pretty comfortable in the end.

“A couple of their boys had a tough night but it doesn’t matter to us, we’re here to concentrate on our own game. You can’t worry about anyone else too much and the boys stayed focused.

“Kyle had an awesome meeting and Nick was pretty solid. If us three can put in some pretty big scores when we go to places, then we’re going to be really competitive.”

Jorgensen said: “We did have a lot of things go wrong. It was a really big crash in Heat 1 involving Josh and Nick. I couldn’t believe they were both able to walk away from it, because it looked like a nasty one.

“We were leaving ourselves with an uphill battle at times, because Leicester are a very strong side and they are very hard to beat once they get out in front.”

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Photo credit: IAN RISPIN