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Reading Racers v Glasgow Tigers
Premier League, 26 September 2005
Smallmead Stadium, Reading

Reading 47
2Zdenek Simota1*1330 0.81
3Andrew Appleton12311 ..80
4Mathieu Tresarrieu0032*2 ..71
5Matej Zagar233Fx3 3.140
6Chris Johnson2*120. ..51
7(g)Ashley Jones302*Fx. ..51
Glasgow 46
1George Stancl336^1*2 ..151
2Trent Leverington0111. ..30
3Claus Kristensen3003. ..60
4Stefan Ekberg2*211. ..61
5Shane Parker1*2221* ..82
6(g)Matthew Wright000.. ..00
7James Cockle1202*3 ..81

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

Reading used R/R at number one for the injured Danny Bird and had Ashley Jones as a guest at reserve in place of Richard Wolff while Glasgow had Matthew Wright at reserve in place of Adam Roynon. The Tigers had a ten point lead from the match at Ashfield towards the bonus point.

After a shaky start Reading had a purple patch mid-match which looked to have put the match beyond Glasgow but the Tigers stormed back with the use of a TR which saw the home side clinging on to a one point lead going into the last heat.

George Stancl stormed from the gate to win the opening heat from Matej Zagar for a 3-3 but the Racers took a 5-1 from the reserves race for a four point lead. Back came Glasgow with a 1-5 from Kristensen and Ekberg to square things again then Zagar beat Parker in heat 4 for a shared heat and a score of 12-12.

Stancl won again in heat 5 beating Andrew Appleton and with Trent Leverington third from Mathieu Tresarrieu the Tigers went ahead with a 2-4. Then Reading wiped that lead out and built up a 12 point lead themselves by winning each of the next five heats. In heat 6 Appleton beat Parker with Simota third for a 4-2 to level the scores again. In heat 7 Matej Zagar won from Stefan Ekberg with Chris Johnson finishing third for another 4-2 which put the home side back in front by two points. In heat 8 the Racers scored a 5-1 from Zdenek Simota and Ashley Jones to take the score to 27-21.

Reading increased their lead to eight points by winning heat 9 when Mathieu Tresarrieu after two last places burst into life to head home Shane Parker with Appleton third for another 4-2 and it looked all over for Glasgow when Simota and Tresarrieu beat the Ekberg/Kristensen pairing by 5-1 to go 12 points in front at 36-24. However no-one had told Glasgow and the home side were soon to find themselves with a backs-to-the-wall scramble to cling on to the slenderest of leads. It all started in heat 11 when George Stancl took a TR. Matej Zagar fell on the second lap chasing the Glasgow number one and was excluded from the rerun in which Stancl and Leverington threatened to take a 1-8 until Chris Johnson caught Leverington on the line. Nonetheless it was a 2-7 to Glasgow who now trailed by only 7 points. In heat 12 Ashley Jones fell and was excluded from the rerun which saw the Glasgow pair of Kristensen and Cockle make the start to heat home Andrew Appleton for a 1-5 which narrowed the gap further to only three points with the score now standing at 39-36.

In heat 13 Matej Zagar won from the Parker/Stancl pairing to keep the Racers ahead but Glasgow got to within one point of the home side with a 2-4 in heat 14 when Cockle beat Tresarrieu with Ekberg third. So it went to a last heat decider with Glasgow winning the toss for the favourable 1 and 3 gates. However Matej Zagar coming from gate 2, which had not produced a race winner all night, saw off Stancl and Parker to prevent Glasgow making a complete comeback.

Match Report by Merlin