Workington Comets put up a battling performance at title-chasing Glasgow Tigers last night.
Comets took it to a last heat decider before going down 48-42 at Ashfield.
It will encourage the Workington management and riders to believe they can win the return and claim the extra aggregate point.
After heat 14 the Tigers held a narrow 43-41 advantage and the Workington pair needed an advantage to square the match or even win it.
But skipper Troy Batchelor and Tate Zischke were up against a Glasgow pair who had been in great form all night.
So it proved in the decider as Chris Harris and former Comet Kyle Howarth held off Batchelor in the early battle for the lead and then romped to a match-clinching 5-1.
Both the Tigers finished the meeting with 13 + 1 and were essentially the main reason why Glasgow got through to the win.
The three Tigers heat leaders scored 35 of their side’s points compared to the Comets trio who managed only 19.
Where the visitors did outscore their hosts was in the reserve department.
Jacob Hook and Vinnie Foord gathered 12 points from their efforts, against just five for the Glasgow pair of Freddie Holder and Max Perry.
The impressive Harris was only beaten once, having to settle for third place in a rerun of heat 13 after an unsatisfactory start.
Batchelor, who had been warned after the first attempt to race, beat Howarth with Harris only third.
That was also the only occasion that Howarth was beaten by a Workington rider.
But overall it was a gritty performance by the Comets as the worst they fared in the meeting was after seven heats when they trailed by eight points – 25-17.
Only Antti Vuolas and Jye Etheridge failed to win a race for the Comets.
Batchelor, Fraser Bowes, Zischke, Jacob Hook and Vinnie Foord each had one win but throughout the meeting they managed nine shared heats.
The performance will have boosted morale following heavy defeats at Scunthorpe and Plymouth ahead of tonight’s home clash with the Oxford Cheetahs.
- Glasgow Tigers 48: Chris Harris 13+1; Tobias Thomsen (G) 1; Dan Thompson 9; Leon Flint 7+1; Kyle Howarth 13+1; Freddy Hodder 3+2; Max Perry 2.
- Workington Comets 42: Troy Batchelor 9+1; Fraser Bowes 6+1; Antti Vuolas 4; Jye Etheridge 5+1; Tate Zischke 6+1; Jacob Hook 5+1; Vinnie Foord 7+1.
