Tigers maul Wolves to set down marker
Wolves will need to up their game after defeat to Sheffield Tigers in a clash billed as a dress-rehearsal for speedway’s Premiership play-offs.
The Parrys International Wolves travelled to the Steel City in the Premiership clash with the teams sitting second and third and increasingly likely to face one another in the play-offs. But it was the home side who took the honours as they inflicted a 54-36 defeat on Wolves.
It was neck-and-neck after the first two heats but Tigers began to pull ahead in the third with a 5-1 Chris Holder and Josh Pickering claimed a home one-two ahead of Luke Killeen and Rory Schlein.
Two 3-3 heats followed before Sheffield’s Pickering and Kyle Howarth increased their lead with 4-2 advantage over Ryan Douglas and Killeen. Schlein and Luke Becker closed the gap to 23-19 overall in the seventh heat with a 4-2 in favour of Wolves but from then on the home riders stole the show. Two consecutive 5-1 wins followed for Tigers before successive 4-2 results in the 10th and 11th saw their lead extended to 16 points. Heat 12 ended level but another 4-2 in favour of Sheffield followed in the 13th before another 5-1 in the 14th. The final heat had to be re-run after Wolves’ Douglas was forced to pull up in the first attempt. That did give them chance to regain some pride with a 5-1 win courtesy of Becker and Douglas as the night finished 54-36.
The final heat did, however, hand Wolves an aggregate point as they finished 91-89 ahead over the home and away legs after a 55-35 win over Tigers last week.
