SHEFFIELD completed their Premier Trophy campaign with a 45-45 draw at Berwick on Saturday evening.

The Tigers went into the night knowing they couldn’t progress any further in the competition, but with just pride to race for they still took the meeting to a last heat decider and picked-up a well-deserved share of the points. Unfortunately the result eliminated Berwick from the competition as they needed to win by ten-points to qualify for the semi-finals.

Ricky Ashworth was in good form for Sheffield with 13 points and Richard Hall (10+1), Paul Cooper (8+2) and Joel Parsons (7+1) all gave their skipper good support.

In a keenly fought affair the Tigers took an early lead following a 5-1 in heat 2 from Parsons and Cooper, but Berwick fought back and by the completion of six races had edged themselves into a 19-17 lead.

Sheffield quickly levelled things up with a 4-2 from Hall and Chris Mills in heat 7 and then Hugh Skidmore and Parsons took full-advantage of William Lawson’s misfortune in heat 8. Lawson had to go off a 15-metre handicap after exceeding the two-minute allowance and the Tigers duo responded by storming to a 5-1.

Back came the Bandits with a 4-2 in heat 10 and after a series of shared races the home side eventually drew level and took the meeting to a last heat decider with another four-pointer in heat 14.

But when it came to heat 15 the two teams couldn’t be split. Although Michal Makovsky raced to a comfortable victory for Berwick ahead of Hall and Ashworth, the Sheffield pair kept Josef Franc at the back and the race and match ended all-square.

BERWICK 45: Michal Makovsky 12+1, Josef Franc 10+1, Gino Franchetti 8+1, Paul Clews 7, William Lawson 3+1, Sean Stoddart 3, Greg Blair 2

SHEFFIELD 45: Ricky Ashworth 13, Richard Hall 10+1, Paul Cooper 8+2, Joel Parsons 7+1, Josh Auty 3+1, Hugh Skidmore 3, Chris Mills 1