Dudley Heathens 47 Scunthorpe-Sheffield 43

Old campaigner Jon Armstrong and rising tyro Ashley Morris salvaged a last-gasp victory for Dudley Heathens on a night of compelling drama at Monmore Green.

The teams were all square at the last and the visitors appeared set to claim the spoils, when Steve Worrall and the improving Gary Irving got the drop on the Dudley pair.

But Armstrong tore round Irving on the fourth bend and then cut back to get the inside run on Worrall, as they hammered into the pits corner.

Neither was giving way and as they closed it was the outside man Worrall who slid off into the fence, ending sprawled against it with his arms out in supplication to vastly experienced match official Tony Steele.

But his pleas were in vain as the yellow disqualification light came on, leaving Irving alone to face the home pair in the rerun.

Even then there was work to do for the Heathens pair, who needed four laps of disciplined team riding to keep the urgent Irving at bay.

Purists would regard this as a point dropped, given that Dudley had weathered a mid-match revival by the visitors to lead by 10 points with four heats remaining.

But never say die Scunthorpe-Sheffield were well worth their reward, inspired by Worrall and his twin Richie as they gradually reeled in the home team.

And when Morris went to the line in heat 14 without his fuel switched on, spluttering to a halt on the first bend, silence enveloped the Heathens faithful as Irving and Richie Worrall took a dominant maximum to square the match.

It was fitting that Armstrong and Morris settled the match. They had been the pick of the home team and were involved in the best of the action.

Morris conjured up a splendid pass on Richie Worrall in the ninth, gaining his back straight speed with a high line off the pits turn and keeping the throttle against the stop just that fraction longer than his rival as the third turn loomed.

In the following heat it was Armstrong’s turn, cutting back under Irving after being passed and almost taking Richard Franklin through too.

Even then there was more to come in that heat as Steve Worrall entered the picture with a burst inside Franklin, only to exit it just as swiftly when he slid off.

Worrall was not the only rider to come to grief as the first six races, bizarrely, yielded no fewer than three 5-0 results.

Most freakish of all was heat six, where Ashley Birks fell and was disqualified from the rerun. His partner Stefan Nielsen held second spot ahead of Franklin only to make a last-bend error which cost him the place.

Nielsen, desperately trying to atone, then looped and fell yards from the flag with man and machine bouncing over the line separately.

The lack of contact between the two meant Nielsen, who was then stood down injured, could not even be given the third place his efforts merited.

It’s a cruel game.

By Tim Hamblin