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Glasgow Tigers v Isle of Wight Islanders
PL Playoff (QF), 01 October 2006
Ashfield Stadium, Glasgow

Glasgow 52
1Danny Bird3331*0 ..101
2David McAllan010.. ..10
3Lee Dicken1*02.. ..31
4Kauko Nieminen211*3. ..71
5Shane Parker332*22 ..121
6Robert Ksiezak30333 1.130
7James Cockle2*2*Fx2*. ..63
Isle of Wight 42
1Chris Holder2316^3 ..150
2Jason Bunyan1*2*R04! ..72
3Ray Morton3221#. ..80
4Krzysztof Stojanowski01*1*0. ..22
5Jason Doyle02301 ..60
6Chris Johnson1000. ..10
7Nick Simmons012.. ..30

* = BP. ^ = TR . ! = TS (15m Handicap). # = TR (Points Not Doubled). & = TS (Points Not Doubled, 15m Handicap).

Both Glasgow and the Isle of Wight were at full strength for this match.

Glasgow had 16 points to pull back from the first leg on the Island last Tuesday. When they stood one point down on aggregate with three heats to go it looked as though the Islanders’ goose was well and truly cooked but instead of Glasgow producing their usual big finish it was the Isle of Wight who raised their game winning the last three heats by 9-14 to eliminate the Tigers in a fantastic match which swung one way then the other.

Heat 1 went true to form. Danny Bird gated and won while Chris Holder and Jason Bunyan filled the minor places behind him for a shared race. Glasgow then took an easy 5-1 from the reserves race with the visiting reserves alarmingly well off the pace, a fact which did not bode well for their chances. Ray Morton won heat 3 from Nieminen while Lee Dicken passed Krzysztof Stojanowski then held on for dear life as Stojanowski tried in vain to repass him. This meant that the points were shared but Glasgow took another giant step towards wiping out their deficit when Shane Parker and James Cockle took a 5-1 in heat 4 after Jason Doyle had fallen in third place. This took the score after the opening four races to 16-8 and already the Tigers had halved the deficit.

They got a shock in heat 5 though when the Islanders hit back with a 1-5. Chris Holder and Jason Bunyan stormed from the tapes to head home Kauko Nieminen and cut the Tigers’ lead in the match to four points. Heat 6 saw the home side increase their lead to six points. It looked as though they might take a 5-1 when Bird and McAllan flew from the tapes but Jason Doyle passed McAllan on the back straight to limit the damage to a 4-2. In heat 7 the Tigers gated again but Ksiezak made a mess of the second bend and finished at the back as Shane Parker led Ray Morton and Krzysztof Stojanowski home for a 3-3. Then came a decisive heat 8. Kseizak replaced David McAllan and along with James Cockle headed off for a 5-1 ahead of Bunyan and Simmons. However, on the third bend Cockle drifted into his partner and he and Ksiezak came to grief. The race was rerun with Cockle excluded. Robert Ksiezak rode a hard first corner to se off Jason Bunyan but the Islander then pulled up with an engine failure so the race ended as a 3-2. This took the score after eight races to 27-20 with Glasgow still trailing on aggregate by nine points.

Kauko Nieminen gated in heat 9 but went too wide on the second bend, clipped the fence and ended up at the back of the field. Jason Doyle went on to win the heat but Nieminen recovered to pass Chris Johnson so the heat was shared. In heat 10 Glasgow threw away more points. Danny Bird led the heat from Ray Morton but David McAllan in third place locked up trying to pass Morton and finished last behind Stojanowski for another shared heat but this was just the calm before the storm as the match erupted into a pulsating final chapter. In heat 11 Robert Ksiezak gated again and Shane Parker tucked in behind him. No matter what Chris Holder did he could not break the team riding Glasgow pair and the crowd went wild with delight as Glasgow scored a 5-1 against the Islanders’ strongest pairing. The Isle of Wight’s aggregate lead had now been cut to five points as they trailed by 11 and worse was to come for them. In heat 12 Ray Morton took a TR. Robert Ksiezak was out again replacing Lee Dicken and he gated with Ray Morton and took the Isle of Wight rider to the fence allowing James Cockle through to second. This gave Glasgow another 5-1 although Ray Morton had an ‘altercation’ with Ksiezak in the pits about his tactics after the race. This took the score to 43-28 with Glasgow only one point down on aggregate. With the unbeaten Bird and Parker out in heats 13 and 15 things looked bleak for the visitors.

In heat 13 Chris Holder took a TR and although Bird and Parker gated, Holder, a man on a mission, passed both of them for a spectacular race win and a 3-6 result which increased the Isle of Wight’s aggregate lead to four points again. In heat 14 Jason Bunyan replaced Nick Simmons as a Tactical Substitute from 15 metres back and he produced a ride which set the Islanders up for a climactic last heat. Nieminen and Ksiezak were fast away from the tapes and it looked a certain 5-1 for the Tigers. Jason Bunyan reeled in Ksiezak and finally passed him on the very last bend for second place and a 4-4 race result which kept the visitors four ahead on aggregate going into the last race. Glasgow now needed a 5-1 to force a race off and Bird and Parker won the toss for choice of gate positions to help their cause. Again the Glasgow men gated and again Holder came from behind to pass them on the back straight with Jason Doyle also passing Bird for good measure. That’s the way it stayed and the 2-4 cut Glasgow’s victory margin in the match to ten points giving the Isle of Wight a six point aggregate win.

It had been a nail biting match and the Isle of Wight were given a standing ovation for their efforts from an appreciative Glasgow crowd. The Islanders were rewarded with a semi-final tie against Sheffield while King’s Lynn will meet Rye House in the other semi-final.

Match Report by Merlin