Leicester hold off Sheffield fightback in dramatic Cup clash to reach Final

Leicester Lions booked their place in a second successive Premiership Knockout Cup Final with a hard-fought 46-44 victory over Sheffield Tigers in a dramatic and eventful encounter at the Hydroscand Arena, Beaumont Park on Thursday night.

In a meeting packed with incidents, momentum swings and on-track tensions, Leicester raced into an early lead before seeing Sheffield battle back from 12 points down to force a last heat decider.

The contest also saw Lions No.1 Ryan Douglas withdraw after a heavy crash, while a fiery Heat 9 clash between Kyle Howarth and Josh Pickering added to the intensity, with the pair involved in a heated exchange after the race. (Watch the race and aftermath in the video below)

Despite the pressure, Leicester held their nerve in the closing stages, with Dan Thompson’s second place in Heat 15 proving enough to seal both the win on the night and progression to the final.

Leicester made a flying start with successive 5-1s in the opening heats to establish control, but Sheffield gradually worked their way back into the meeting.

After falling behind by double figures, the Tigers mounted a strong comeback with a series of heat advantages, closing the gap to just four points heading into the final races and setting up a tense finish.

Leicester manager Stewart Dickson, speaking via the Leicester Speedway website, said:

“The objective was to get to the Final and we’ve done that.

“We had one or two problems, including Dougy coming off after he’d looked really good in his first race, and that did have a bit of an effect on us.

“But the team mucked in to cover for him… I thought we were the better team, although it was disappointing to be eight and then 12 points up and for them to still come back into it.

“But we’ve qualified for the Final against Ipswich and we owe them one for last season.”

Sheffield boss Simon Stead, speaking via the Sheffield Speedway website, added:

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

“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.”

Leicester now progress to the Premiership Knockout Cup Final where they will face Ipswich, while Sheffield take positives from a spirited performance despite their exit.