Battling Scorpions just miss out on point

SHEFFIELD TIGERS 49 SCUNTHORPE SCORPIONS 41 (LEAGUE CUP)

HENDERSON INSURANCE Scunthorpe Scorpions just fell short in taking a League Cup point, after a 41-49 loss at Sheffield last night (Thursday).

The Scorpions, out to show their mettle after a 26-64 drubbing at Peterborough last week, did just that with a battling performance.

The visitors led 16-14 at one stage of proceedings, after two 5-1s in Heat 3 (from Ryan Douglas and Alex Davies) and Heat 5 (Davies and Josh Auty).

The Tigers then pulled ahead, although the Scorpions put themselves in with a chance of the consolation point with a 5-1 from Douglas and Carl Wilkinson in Heat 14, after home rider had Josh Bates had been excluded. But a Tigers 4-2 in the final race meant the Scorpions finished the meeting empty-handed.

Douglas top scored for the Scorpions with a fine paid 15 (13+2) tally, defeating home No 1 Simon Stead in Heat 10, while Auty (9+1) and Davies (8+2) were also paid for double figures.

Scorpions’ team manager Dave Peet said: “Sheffield have got a strong team this year, and there will be quite a few teams who won’t score 41 points there. We gave them a match.

“Dougie (Ryan Douglas) had a good night and rode well, and the rest of the team all had their moments, and I include Josh Bailey in that. There’s not often he’ll ride as hard as that, and come out of the meeting without any points. It’s all part of his learning curve.

“There were a lot of positives to take out of it from a team point of view.”

SHEFFIELD TIGERS 49
1. Simon Stead 2* 3 1* 3 3 (12+2)
2. Dimitri Berge 3 2* 3 2 1 (11+1)
3. Kyle Howarth 0 1 2* 3 (6+1)
4. Josh Bates 1 0 3 FX (4)
5. Jason Garrity 1* 3 3 1 (8+1)
6. Richard Hall 1 0 0 1 (2)
7. Nathan Greaves 3 2 1 0 (6)

HENDERSON INSURANCE SCUNTHORPE SCORPIONS 41
1. Josh Auty 1 2* 2 2 2 0 (9+1)
2. Zdenek Holub R/R
3. Alex Davies 2* 3 2 0 1* (8+2)
4. Ryan Douglas 3 1* 3 1* 3 2 (13+2)
5. Nicolai Klindt 0 3 1 1 0 (5)
6. Carl Wilkinson 2 0 0 2 2* (6+1)
7. Josh Bailey FX 0 0 (0)

1: Berge, Stead, Auty, Klindt, 60.8 (5-1) (5-1).
2: (Re-run) Greaves, Wilkinson, Hall, Bailey (fell, excluded), 64.2 (4-2) (9-3).
3: Douglas, Davies, Bates, Howarth, 62.6 (1-5) (10-8).
4: Klindt, Greaves, Garrity, Bailey, 63.1 (3-3) (13-11).
5: Davies, Auty, Howarth, Bates, 63.2 (1-5) (14-16).
6: Stead, Berge, Klindt, Wilkinson, 61.3 (5-1) (19-17).
7: Garrity, Davies, Douglas, Hall, 63.6 (3-3) (22-20).
8: Berge, Auty, Greaves, Bailey, 62.1 (4-2) (26-22).
9: Bates, Howarth, Klindt, Wilkinson, 63.1 (5-1) (31-23).
10: Douglas, Berge, Stead, Davies, 63.3 (3-3) (34-26).
11: (Re-run) Garrity, Auty, Douglas, Hall, 63.7 (3-3) (37-29).
12: Howarth, Wilkinson, Davies, Greaves, 64.8 (3-3) (40-32).
13: Stead, Auty, Garrity, Klindt, 61.9 (4-2) (44-34).
14: (Re-run) Douglas, Wilkinson, Hall, Bates (fell, excluded), 64.3 (1-5) (45-39).
15: Stead, Douglas, Berge, Auty, 62.4 (4-2) (49-41).

* HENDERSON INSURANCE Scunthorpe Scorpions take on Peterborough Panthers at the Eddie Wright Raceway on Sunday (6.30pm), with new signing Ashley Morris making his debut for the Scorpions.