SHEFFIELD'S League Cup clash with Redcar at Owlerton on Thursday is now win-or-bust.

The Sheffield Window Centre side saw their chances of qualification suffer a major blow with a 63-27 defeat at Newcastle on Sunday.

It means they have to beat the Bears to give them a chance of reaching the semi-finals ahead of the return clash 24-hours later.

Boss Joe Screen said: "Some of the riders had issues early on and heads went down which didn't help matters.

"In the end we were just well beaten... and we were all disappointed we weren't able to put up more of a fight."

The result means Sheffield need back-to-back wins over Redcar this week if they are to qualify for the semi-finals. They race at home on Thursday with the return at the South Tees Motorsport Park on Friday.

Newcastle 63: Lewis Kerr 14+1, Ludvig Lindgren 12+3, Stuart Robson 10+2, Christian Henry 10+1, Lewis Rose 7+1, Anton Rosen 6+2, Chris Schramm 4+2.

Sheffield 27: Andre Compton 8, Leigh Lanham 7, Simon Stead 6, Taylor Poole 2+1, Adam Roynon 2, Josh Bates 2, Simon Nielsen r/r.