Sheffield Tigers v Leicester Lions

SHEFFIELD put themselves firmly in control of their ROWE Motor Oil Premiership play-off semi-final with a 57-33 first leg win over Leicester.

Tigers guest Max Fricke scored a 15-point maximum for a home side who scored right down the order, extending their advantage from six points to 24 in the second half of the meeting.

Chris Holder added 10+1 from four rides whilst skipper Josh Pickering (7+3) combined with Fricke for a 5-1 in Heat 15 after pulling off an on-the-line win over Drew Kemp in Heat 11. Reserve Jye Etheridge also made a strong contribution with nine.

The Lions were able to provide just three wins, two from skipper Sam Masters (10) with the other from Nick Morris (8) as they were left on the back foot ahead of next Thursday’s second leg.

Sheffield manager Simon Stead said: “I’d have absolutely snatched your hand off for a lead like that beforehand, but it’s leg one and Leicester are a phenomenal outfit at their place.

“We’ve struggled there this season for various reasons, but Max gives us a little more stability at the top, so hopefully that takes some of the pressure off the rest of the guys and they can settle into it and score the points we need.

“There were contributions from everyone tonight, and it was great to see Chris back in form. He’s been a little off it for whatever reason the last few weeks, but he’s so good around here and he gives us the firepower that we need.”

Lions boss Stewart Dickson said: “We’re not going to dress it up, this is a lot more of a deficit than we had hoped it would be.

“I wanted us to keep it within single figures, but the bottom line is we’ve not done so. Sheffield beat us out of the gate and they were bullying us, they were harder and tougher, and they deserved the win.

“We’ve not been what we should have been. To find ourselves 24 points down with the team I’ve got is not really acceptable, and we’re facing a very big uphill task – it’s been a difficult night.”

ROWE MOTOR OIL PREMIERSHIP, PLAY-OFF SEMI-FINAL, 1st Leg
SHEFFIELD 57: Max Fricke 15, Chris Holder 10+1, Jye Etheridge 9, Josh Pickering 7+3, Anders Rowe 7+1, Leon Flint 6+2, , Luke Killeen 3.
LEICESTER 33: Sam Masters 10, Nick Morris 8, Drew Kemp 6+1, Ryan Douglas 4+2, Dan Thompson 2, Jody Scott 2, Joe Thompson 1+1.

OFFICIAL REFEREE SCORECARD
Available here

Photo credit: CHARLOTTE FLANIGAN