SHEFFIELD were left to rue a disastrous start to the meeting as Rye House left Owlerton with a 48-44 win in Thursday’s close-fought Premier League encounter.

The Window Centre Tigers had to battle back from ten points down – and, inspired by a fine display from recent signing Adam Roynon and a much-improved showing by Facundo Albin, it looked like they just might pull off a dramatic comeback.

But the Rockets’ Australian youngster Tyson Nelson had other ideas, and his wins in Heats 14 and 15 saw his side through to their first league away win of the season.

Tigers were out of luck early on with a series of setbacks, including falls for both Roynon and guest James Sarjeant when well-placed, whilst mechanical trouble saw Richard Hall penalised in Heat 3 – all of which left Rye House 17-7 up despite Andre Compton’s impressive Heat 1 win.

Tigers could make little headway initially, Jason Bunyan defeating Compton when the guest went for double in Heat 5, with Pontus Aspgren denying Sheffield a 5-1 in the sixth race with a late pass on Compton.

Heat 9 was more successful as Roynon and Hall banged in maximum points over the Swede, but a Rockets 4-2 in Heat 11 left Sheffield with much to do, six points down with four heats to go.

Tigers scrapped hard with Hall and Albin making passing moves for a 4-2 in Heat 12, and Roynon doing likewise to split Josh Grajczonek and Aspgren in Heat 13 as the gap was cut to two points.

But Nelson’s win over Albin and Hall in the penultimate race left no margin for error, and the Rye House man did it again in the finale with Anders Mellgren holding Richard Lawson at bay for third place to leave the Rockets celebrating.

SHEFFIELD 44: Adam Roynon 11, Richard Lawson 9, Facundo Albin 9, Andre Compton 8, Richard Hall 6+2, James Sarjeant 1, Ricky Wells r/r.

RYE HOUSE 48: Tyson Nelson 12+1, Jason Bunyan 9+1, Anders Mellgren 8+2, Ben Hopwood 6, Josh Grajczonek 5+1, Pontus Aspgren 5+1, Kasper Lykke 3.