LEICESTER have a mountain to climb to reach a third successive ROWE Motor Oil Premiership Grand Final after a 57-33 defeat at Sheffield on Thursday.
The Watling JCB Lions faded in the second half of the meeting at Owlerton after holding their hosts in the early stages, and it means they will need the performance of their season in the second leg.
Ironically the scoreline was identical to the Lions’ previous visit to South Yorkshire in the regular league stage, where they did subsequently hit 58 points in the home return – but it should be acknowledged that the Tigers will travel as a stronger side next week than on that occasion.
That includes former Lions skipper Max Fricke who scored a 15-point maximum, and there were solid scores all down the Sheffield team as they built their lead.
Lions provided only three race wins, two of them from skipper Sam Masters who won his opening two outings, and the other from Nick Morris who gave a competitive display.
Elsewhere Drew Kemp was solid at No.2 but Ryan Douglas no-scored in Heat 1 and then suffered mechanical issues, whilst the overall story was one of too many last places.
Sheffield got off to a flyer with maximum points from Fricke and Anders Rowe in the opener, but the Lions managed to largely overcome that setback by sharing the next four races.
Guest Jody Scott and Joe Thompson kept Luke Killeen at the back of Heat 2 before Masters produced a super move to go past both Leon Flint and Chris Holder on turns three and four to win Heat 3.
Morris stormed clear in Heat 4 as home skipper Josh Pickering was delayed before eventually passing Thompson for third place, whilst Douglas and Kemp comfortably followed Holder home in Heat 5.
The hosts notched a 4-2 in Heat 6 with Morris quickly splitting Fricke and Rowe off the second bend, and the early stages of Heat 7 looked promising as Masters and Dan Thompson held a 5-1 from the gate only for Killeen and Pickering to make outside passing moves for the race to result in a 3-3.
Rowe went round Kemp and Joe Thompson on the opening lap of Heat 8 with Killeen then going inside Thompson for third, and the warning bells were ringing when Holder and Flint raced to a 5-1 over Morris in the next race to open the gap to 12 points.
Another 5-1 to the home side looked possible in Heat 10 but Masters got ahead of Rowe to at least limit the Tigers to a 4-2, and just when Leicester looked set to take an advantage in the next, Pickering snatched the win from Kemp with a dramatic cutback off the final bend.
Sheffield then recorded a big 5-1 in Heat 12 from Jye Etheridge and Holder, whilst bike trouble prior to Heat 13 resulted in Douglas borrowing a machine from Kemp, where the Lions’ No.1 and Morris did enough to keep Pickering at the back before the home man slowed.
Flint and Etheridge were on another Sheffield 5-1 in Heat 14 before Dan Thompson got on the board by moving inside Etheridge for second place at the start of the last lap.
But there was still to be a further advance for the Tigers as Fricke completed his maximum in Heat 15 whilst Pickering went from fourth to second, inside Masters and Morris on the third bend for the hosts’ fourth 5-1 of the night.
Lions manager Stewart Dickson said: “We’re not going to dress it up, this is a lot more of a deficit than we had hoped it would be.
“I wanted us to keep it within single figures, but the bottom line is we’ve not done so. Sheffield beat us out of the gate and they were bullying us, they were harder and tougher, and they deserved the win.
“We’ve not been what we should have been. To find ourselves 24 points down with the team I’ve got is not really acceptable, and we’re facing a very big uphill task – it’s been a difficult night.”
The comeback bid for the Lions takes place at the Hydroscand Arena next Thursday (October 1) when they will need everything to go in their favour in order to set up another Grand Final appearance.
ROWE MOTOR OIL PREMIERSHIP, PLAY-OFF SEMI-FINAL, 1st Leg
SHEFFIELD 57: Max Fricke 15, Chris Holder 10+1, Jye Etheridge 9, Josh Pickering 7+3, Anders Rowe 7+1, Leon Flint 6+2, Luke Killeen 3.
LEICESTER 33: Sam Masters 10, Nick Morris 8, Drew Kemp 6+1, Ryan Douglas 4+2, Dan Thompson 2, Jody Scott 2, Joe Thompson 1+1.
