THE SHEFFIELD WINDOW CENTRE TIGERS have a mountain to climb after going down by 14 points to Rye House in the Knockout Cup Quarter Final first leg.

In a meeting savaged by rain it was important for Sheffield to keep within touching distance, and for much of the meeting they looked as if they were going to leave Hertfordshire with the upper hand.

Ricky Wells once again showed what an asset he is to the Tigers away from home with a string of victories and that kept Sheffield in the meeting, but a lack of any real backup for Wells and Stead again proved to be Sheffield’s downfall.

It was only a late-meeting string of heat advantages for Rye House that saw them build such a lead and led by the excellent Jason Garrity they will come to Owlerton for Thursday’s second leg firmly in command of the tie.

Rye House were missing Jason Bunyan and Simon Lambert, both injured, and Tyson Nelson was denied starting permission because he didn’t take his place in the World Under-21 semi-final in Ukraine.

It was a valiant effort by the Rockets but there were some positives for Sheffield, notably another 16-point-haul for Wells and encouraging displays from Facundo Albin and Jake Knight.

On a track hugely different to those in his native Argentina Albin won a race and ended his evening on paid-six points, while Knight notched five himself in another battling performance.

Simon Stead, who has only ever ridden the Hoddesdon circuit once, had a tough evening but contributed a handy nine, Joe Haines struggled with paid-three and Damien Koppe came in with one paid two.

Team boss David Hoggart was both proud and disappointed by his team’s efforts; “Rye House are a team of track specialists and they’re very good riders, I didn’t think we were awful but they were simply better than us.

“It’s hard because a lot of our boys have little or no experience of the place, but we put up a good fight until the last few heats. I’m disappointed with the margin of defeat, definitely, but the boys gave everything and we were simply beaten by a good side.”

RYE HOUSE 52: Jason Garrity 16+1, Kasper Lykke 13+3, Anders Mellgren 11, Olly Allen 8, Ben Morley 4+1, Tyson Nelson r/r, Jason Bunyan dnr.

SHEFFIELD 38: Ricky Wells 16, Simon Stead 9, Facundo Albin 5+1, Jake Knight 5, Joe Haines 2+1, Damien Koppe 1+1, Richard Hall r/r