SHEFFIELD missed out on a place in this year’s Premiership Knockout Cup Final on an eventful night in Leicester on Thursday.

The Tigers were beaten 46-44 by the reigning holders - narrowly missing out on the win they required to see them through.

A slow start saw the South Yorkshire side go 10-2 down early on after conceding successive 5-1s in the opening races before Leon Flint and Josh Pickering took the flag in back-to-back shared races to steady the ship.

Jack Holder then led a Sheffield 4-2 in Heat Five alongside Anders Rowe, prompting team boss Simon Stead to use his No.1 as a tactical substitute in what would be an eventful Heat Six.

The first attempt saw contact between Holder and his opposite number Ryan Douglas in the opening turns, forcing the Sheffield man to come down - all four riders were invited back into the re-run which then saw Douglas take a tumble which would rule him out of the remainder of the contest.

But the third try worked to perfection for the Tigers with Holder and Pickering combining for a 5-1 to move back within two.

But then came the costly part of the meeting as the hosts struck four straight heat advantages with drama in Heat Eight when Luke Killeen made an error and slid off whilst in third on the final bend before real drama unfolded at the conclusion of the next race.

Pickering and Kyle Howarth were involved in a real ding dong battle with the former Sheffield skipper squeezing his successor up to the fence off bend four - a move which did not go down well with the Australian. Post-race handbags followed with the pair needing to be separated as tensions rose in the East Midlands.

Twelve points down, Jack Holder and Anders Rowe then delivered a 5-1 in Heat 11 before Chris Holder claimed his first race win in Heat 12.

Jack Holder led another maximum in Heat 13 to keep the Tigers’ hopes alive with Pickering storming superbly underneath Howarth mid-race.

But a 3-3 in Heat 14 virtually put Leicester into the final before a finish for Dan Thompson was enough for the hosts despite a sublime pass from Jack Holder in the finale.

Said Stead: “Obviously as a group we’re disappointed to bow out, but the reaction from last Thursday was all you can ask.

“As the manager, as a supporter on the stands, they wanted us to come here and give it our best shot and I think they can see that we gave it everything out there.

“This is always a tough place to come and we know their riders are going particularly well at the moment - we saw that with how they rode at Sheffield last Thursday.

“So we knew it was going to be a difficult task but when the effort’s there you can’t ask for any more.

“We came up a little bit short, congratulations to Leicester and best wishes to them for the Final, but we now go again, and we concentrate on the league and I think there’s plenty to build on.”

Sheffield head to King’s Lynn on Monday (April 27, 7.30pm) for their Premiership opener.

LEICESTER 46: Dan Thompson 11+1, Kyle Howarth 10+1, Nick Morris 6+1, Sam Masters 6, Joe Thompson 5+3, Drew Kemp 5, Ryan Douglas 3.
SHEFFIELD 44: Jack Holder 15+1, Josh Pickering 9+2, Leon Flint 7, Anders Rowe 6, Chris Holder 5, Luke Killeen 2+1, Jye Etheridge 0.