SHEFFIELD suffered a second-half collapse and left Rye House with no Premier League points from a 38-52 defeat on Saturday.
The Window Centre Tigers held their Hoddesdon hosts throughout the early stages of the meeting and in fact led after eight races – but the Rockets came on strong to take all three points.
The first six races were all shared, with skipper Simon Stead picking himself up from a first-heat spill which saw team-mate Taylor Poole disqualified, to defeat Edward Kennett in the re-run.
Andre Compton won his first two rides and a Tigers 4-2 in the second of those, Heat 7, was the first time either side took an advantage.
However, the Rockets had a flying reserve in Jason Garrity and he began to take control of the meeting in Heat 8 after Luke Bowen had crashed out.
Two successive Rockets 5-1s saw the home side race into a six-point lead, although Tigers retained hopes of a point at least when Leigh Lanham and Simon Nielsen worked hard for a 4-2 in Heat 12.
But the Rockets moved eight points clear when Matt Tresarrieu managed to split Stead and Ty Proctor in Heat 13 behind Kennett, and Tigers were left out of contention when Garrity and Steve Boxall got the better of Compton and Josh Bates in the penultimate race.
RYE HOUSE 52: Jason Garrity 15+2, Edward Kennett 14, Steve Boxall 11+1, Jason Bunyan 6+1, Matt Tresarrieu 5, Luke Bowen 1+1, Simon Lambert 0.
SHEFFIELD 38: Simon Stead 11, Andre Compton 7, Leigh Lanham 5, Josh Bates 4+2, Simon Nielsen 4+1, Ty Proctor 4+1, Taylor Poole 3+1.
