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Isle of Wight Islanders v Exeter Falcons
Premier Trophy (Group), 17 May 2005
Smallbrook Stadium, Isle of Wight

Isle of Wight 48
1Craig Boyce33313 ..130
2Manuel Hauzinger2*031. ..61
3Krister Marsh1*232*. ..82
4Ulrich Ostergaard21*2*3. ..82
5Tomas Suchanek1110. ..30
6Jason Doyle23Fx1. ..60
7Steen Jensen1*003. ..41
Exeter 42
1Mark Lemon1332*1* ..102
3Ray Morton3F... ..30
4Antonin Svab02R2*2 ..61
5Seemond Stephens32R32 ..100
6Nick Simmons001*1*1 0.32
7Pavel Ondrasik32*022 10101

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

As one of three teams in contention for the runners-up spot in the southern section of the Premier Trophy, tonight’s match was crucial for the Isle of Wight who needed to overcome a 14 point lead which Exeter built up in their home fixture against the Islanders. The Isle of Wight had Tomas Suchanek making his debut at number 5 in place of Jason Bunyan but otherwise they were on the usual lines. Exeter, needing to recover from their shock home defeat by Newport last night, were without Lee Smethills who withdrew from last night’s meeting through illness. They used R/R for him at number 2 and had Ray Morton, returning to his former PL track, making his debut at number 3.

The Islanders opened with a 5-1 from Boyce and Hauzinger over Mark Lemon and the next two heats were shared with Ray Morton marking his debut with a heat 3 win. Exeter were back on level terms in heat 4 with a 1-5 from Stephens and Ondrasik over the other debut man, Tomas Suchanek so the score was 12-12.

Wins for Boyce and Lemon resulted in shared heats then Ray Morton hit the fence in the run in to the line in heat 7 under pressure from Jason Doyle so the home side took a 4-2 to break the deadlock again to lead 22-20. This was a turning point in the match as, not only did Exeter lose a heat they looked like winning, but Ray Morton withdrew from the meeting. Heat 8 was shared though and the score was now 25-23.

An engine failure for Seemond Stephens in heat 9 was costly for Exeter as they conceded a 5-1 and they lost a 4-2 in heat 10 when Toni Svab was another non-finisher. This took the score to 34-26 but it was the Islanders turn to suffer in heat 11 when Jason Doyle fell and was excluded from the rerun which resulted in a 1-5 for Exeter from Mark Lemon and Toni Svab who took the R/R ride. With no Ray Morton in heat 12 Exeter suffered another 5-1 to Steen Jensen and Krister Marsh to make the interval score 40-32. The Islanders still needed to pull back another six points over the last three heats to level the aggregate scores.

Their hopes were effectively killed off in heat 13 when Craig Boyce unusually finshed third on the wrong end of a 1-5 to Seemond Stephens and Mark Lemon. There were only four points in it now with the score 41-37 and Exeter’s hopes of taking more than the bonus point were rising. They too had these hopes dashed by a 4-2 in heat 14 from Ostergaard and Doyle with Toni Svab second. In the last race Craig Boyce finished with a win but Stephens and Lemon followed him home for a shared heat.

Match Report by Merlin