SHEFFIELD’S quest for a top four Premier League finish suffered a further blow following a 54-39 defeat at Berwick on Saturday night.

And to add to their woes they also lost the services of team regulars Josh Auty and Hugh Skidmore who both had to withdraw from the meeting with injuries.

Auty pulled out with a minor back problem after crashing in his second ride and Skidmore suffered a shoulder injury after hitting the deck in heat 8. Tigers then finished the night with just four fit riders when guest reserve Richard Lawson also sustained shoulder damage in the same accident that finished Skidmore’s night.

Things were actually going quite well early on as Sheffield led 22-20 after seven races, but after conceding a 5-1 in the re-run of the incident packed heat 8, the Bandits took full advantage of the visitors problems and raced into 38-28 lead.

Josef Franc was then nominated for double points in heat 12 and riding well back at his former track he beat Michal Rajkowski to the chequered flag. Simon Lambert followed them home in third place and the resulting 7-2 momentarily reduced the deficit to just five points (40-35).

However, that was as good as it got with the Bandits finishing strongly and the Tigers will now need to check on rider fitness before they head to Peterborough on Sunday afternoon for the Premier League Fours Championship.

BERWICK 54: Lee Complin 12+1, Adrian Rymel 10+1, Michal Makovsky 8+1, Marcin Rempala 7+1, Paul Clews 6+2, Michal Rajkowski 6+1, Jade Mudgway 5+1

SHEFFIELD 39: Josef Franc 13+1, Richard Hall 7+1, Ricky Ashworth 6+1, Richard Lawson 6, Josh Auty 3, Hugh Skidmore 2+1, Simon Lambert 2