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Sheffield Tigers v Glasgow Tigers
Premier Trophy (Group), 27 April 2006
Owlerton Stadium, Sheffield

Sheffield 54
1Ricky Ashworth1*1*22*3 ..93
2Ben Wilson2231*. ..81
3Emiliano SanchezR1*12. ..41
4Kyle Legault3232. ..100
5Andre Compton33332* ..141
6Paul Cooper2*100. ..31
7Benji Compton312*Fx. ..61
Glasgow 41
1Danny Bird334^00 ..100
2David McAllan0R1.. ..10
3Lee Dicken1*R0.. ..11
4Kauko Nieminen2236^1 ..140
5Shane Parker23R!21 ..80
6Robert Ksiezak0001. ..10
7James Cockle10131 ..60

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

Sheffield were at full strength for this match as were Glasgow with James Cockle having recovered from his injuries from last Sunday. Glasgow were defending a seven point lead from their home victory over Sheffield in their search for the bonus point.

Danny Bird won the opening race for a 3-3 but Sheffield took a 5-1 in the reserves race won by Benji Compton from Paul Cooper for a four point lead. Kauko Nieminen passed Emiliano Sanchez in heat 3 and the Sheffield rider then suffered an engine failure. However the race was won by Kyle Legault so this race was shared too. In heat 4 Andre Compton beat Shane Parker and, with Benji Compton taking third place from James Cockle, the home side increased their lead to 6 points with the 4-2 bringing the heat 4 score to 12-6.

In heat 5 Emiliano Sanchez was penalised for touching the tapes and went from 15 metres back. Danny Bird won for the second time beating Kyle Legault but Emiliano Sanchez pulled back the handicap to pass David McAllan whose bike promptly packed up resulting in another 3-3. In heat 6 a virtuoso ride from Shane Parker saw him pass both Ricky Ashworth and Ben Wilson for another shared race but Sheffield increased their lead to eight points in heat 7 with an Andre Compton win from Kauko Nieminen with Paul Cooper taking third place as Lee Dicken suffered an engine failure. Eight down Glasgow adopted their usual procedure in these circumstances by immediately giving Shane Parker an extra ride as a Tactical Substitute from 15 metres back in heat 8 in place of David McAllan. This was not a success though. Ben Wilson and Benji Compton scored a 5-1 as Parker suffered an engine failure at the end of the third lap while lying third. As a result Sheffield were now 12 points in front with the heat 8 score reading 30-18.

Heat 9 saw Shane Parker beaten into second place by Kyle Legault. Behind them Emiliano Sanchez chased and passed Robert Ksiezak finally getting by the Glasgow reserve on the last lap. This extended the home side’s lead to 14 points and it stayed that way when Kauko Nieminen won heat 10 from Ricky Ashworth and Ben Wilson. In heat 11 Glasgow played their first TR card as the unbeaten Danny Bird took the ride. However he was beaten into second place by Andre Compton but, with David McAllan taking third place from Paul Cooper, Glasgow took a 3-5 advantage to cut two points from the Sheffield lead. They pulled another two points back in heat 12 although it looked at one stage as though Glasgow would register a 1-5. In the first running of the race Benji Compton fell and was excluded from the rerun. In the rerun it was James Cockle and Robert Ksiezak who led for the visitors but Emiliano Sanchez got past Ksiezak on the last bend to limit the damage to a 2-4. This brought the heat 12 score to 42-32 and Glasgow now trailed by only three points for the bonus.

The Scottish Tigers’ hopes were dashed when Sheffield took a comfortable 5-1 in heat 13 from Andre Compton and Ricky Ashworth ahead of Shane Parker and Danny Bird. It was now time for Glasgow to play their second TR card and this time Kauko Nieminen took the full six points by beating Kyle Legault who was having a tussle with James Cockle behind him. Cockle eventually finished third ahead of Paul Cooper so Glasgow scored a 2-7 which cut the gap to nine points leaving a last heat decider for the bonus point with Sheffield now only two points ahead. Glasgow fielded Danny Bird and Kauko Nieminen in the last race but they could only watch as Ricky Ashworth and Andre Compton led the way home for a 5-1 to clinch all three points.

Match Report by Merlin