LEICESTER produced a remarkable late fightback in their ROWE Motor Oil Premiership Play-Off Semi-Final to come away from Sheffield just three points down at the halfway stage.
The Watling JCB Lions found themselves 14 points behind after 12 races, but pulled the score back to 46-43 after finishing off with three huge heat advantages.
Things got off to a challenging start for Stewart Dickson’s side as they conceded three 5-1s in the opening four races as they trailed 18-6.
After a tapes infringement for home No.1 Jack Holder in the initial staging of the opener, Lions skipper Max Fricke was then disqualified from the re-run for being deemed to be the cause of Leon Flint’s fall into bend three.
Drew Kemp rode a strong opening lap to lead the share of the spoils in the second heat, but couldn’t effect the scorers when he came in as a replacement for Ryan Douglas in Heat Three after the Aussie touched the starting tapes.
Heat Four saw Sam Masters and Joe Thompson outgated and outpaced before a fired up Fricke fended off a first lap challenge from fellow Aussie Chris Holder to stop the run.
Kemp and Masters rode superbly together to get a maximum over Jack Holder in Heat Six before a shared seventh which saw both Kyle Howarth and Douglas distracted by Jye Etheridge on the start line with the home reserve lifting the tapes with the front of his bike.
The hosts bagged another 5-1 in Heat Eight with Kemp’s efforts trumped by Leon Flint and a final bend blast from Etheridge.
Masters led a first of three straight 3-3s in Heat Nine with the second seeing Douglas denied the win by a fine ride from Jack Holder.
Fricke then ended Josh Pickering’s run with a determined ride in Heat 11 before the hosts moved 14 ahead after Heat 12 with Anders Rowe sneaking up the inside of Kemp for third.
Masters and Fricke shot away in Heat 13 for an important 5-1 before an eventful Heat 14 took place.
The initial staging saw both Kemp and former Lion Nick Morris come down in a first bend incident before the latter was then disqualified in the re-run after again crashing, this time on bend four.
But the home crowd were incensed by the referee’s decision to exclude Rowe who was thrown out after being deemed to bring Howarth down - who coasted round with Kemp for a key 5-0 in Heat 14.
Masters and Fricke again gated on a 5-1 in Heat 15, but were denied another maximum when Jack Holder passed the latter on the last lap.
Team boss Stewart Dickson said: “The scoreline probably flatters us a little bit - but it gives us a right good chance.
“Considering where we were after four races, credit to Sheffield they were passing my riders, they were performing really well and we got it together a little bit more in the second half of the meeting.
“We had a wee chat in the brief interval and the message was ‘we’re making starts, but we’re not helping each other, we’re getting passed, we’re getting bullied on the track’, it wasn’t dirty, it was good hard racing.
“They were a bit tougher and I cannot have another team wanting it more than my team.
“So we had a chat and don’t get me wrong, we got a wee break in Heat 14 - it’s just one of those, it was all three back.
“But that gave us the catapult and it was a big finish from us in the end.
“It’s not over yet though - there’s still a long way to go in this tie!”
The decider takes place at Leicester’s Hydroscand Arena, Beaumont Park on Monday (September 22, 7.30pm).
ROWE MOTOR OIL PREMIERSHIP PLAY-OFF, SEMI-FINAL, 1st Leg SHEFFIELD 46: Anders Rowe 8+3, Chris Holder 8+2, Josh Pickering 8, Jack Holder 7, Nick Morris 6+1, Leon Flint 5+1, Jye Etheridge 4+1.
LEICESTER 43: Sam Masters 12+1, Drew Kemp 10, Max Fricke 9+1, Kyle Howarth 6+2, Ryan Douglas 5+1, Luke Becker 1, Joe Thompson 0.
