SHEFFIELD crashed to a heart-breaking 45-44 Premier League defeat at Stoke on Saturday evening - despite leading for most of the meeting.
The Tigers were in front from heat 5 onwards and were still nine-points ahead with three races remaining, but a late collapse allowed the Potters to steal the match by the narrowest of margins.
The Yorkshire side did manage to pick up a consolation league point, but they will return home bitterly disappointed after letting the chances of an away victory slip away in the closing stages.
The scores were tight early on, but the Tigers went ahead with a 4-2 when guest David Howe defeated Lee Complin in heat 5 and Chris Mills slipped though for third place.
Josh Auty then beat Jason Bunyan to give Sheffield a share of the points in heat 6 and an untroubled 5-1 from Richard Hall and Joel Parsons in heat 7 increased the lead to 24-18.
Paul Cooper and Mills raced to another maximum in heat 8, but the Potters pulled a point back when Complin defeated Hugh Skidmore in heat 9 after the other two riders had failed to finish.
Bunyan and Jesper Kristiansen got Stoke back into the meeting with a five-pointer in heat 10, but Howe and Mills restored the nine-point advantage for the Tigers with a 5-1 of their own in heat 11.
Robert Ksiezak and Bunyan then reduced the arrears to 42-35 with a 4-2 in heat 13 after Auty had ground to a halt, but this still meant that Sheffield needed just three points from the final two races for victory. But then it all went wrong!
Heat 14 saw Complin and Tom P Madsen ease to a 5-1 after Cooper had to go off a 15-metre handicap for a two-minute exclusion and Hall fell, and to complete the Tigers woes, Complin and Bunyan completed a miraculous comeback with a tapes-to-flag 5-1 over Howe and Hall in heat 15.
STOKE 45: Lee Complin 13, Jason Bunyan 11+1, Robert Ksiezak 8, Tom P Madsen 6+1, Jesper Kristiansen 5+2, Craig Branney 1+1, Klaus Jakobsen 1+1.
SHEFFIELD 44: Paul Cooper 12, David Howe 11, Richard Hall 6, Chris Mills 5+2, Josh Auty 4+1, Joel Parsons 4+1, Hugh Skidmore 2.
