GUTSY Sheffield gave history-makers Edinburgh a scare in an entertaining League Cup tie at Owlerton on Thursday.

The Sheffield Window Centre side went down 50-40 to the Monarchs to end their League Cup campaign against the most successful side in the modern era.

Joe Screen's side were in the match until the final third when the visitors turned the screw and pulled clear.

Sheffield co-promoter Damien Bates said: "Nobody gave us a chance of winning the tie on aggregate, but we gave Edinburgh a scare in the first half of the meeting.

"Edinburgh are going to win this league on this form and the fact that they've now won 18 and drawn 1 meeting this season shows just how strong they are.

"There were some pleasing signs for the Tigers tonight despite the result. Simon Nielsen rode well and Andre Compton looked like his old self."

After a shared first heat, Tigers took the lead with a 4-2 in Heat 2 with Simon Nielsen coming from behind to beat Steve Worrall with Josh Bates slotting into third place.

When Andre Compton and Leigh Lanham repeated the feat in the third it looked like Tigers could have been on the way to ending the Monarchs 18 match unbeaten run.

A controversial exclusion for Ty Proctor followed in the next race as he collided with Sam Masters as he was trying to pass him.

The referee deemed Masters move towards the fence was a normal manoeuvre, however it looked a very tough move to stop Proctor passing on the outside. The rerun without Proctor gave the monarchs a match levelling 5-1.

Craig Cook looked to be supercharged as he passed Andre Compton to level heat 6, and Tigers retook the lead when Stead rounded Masters safely in heat 6 with Poole finishing third.

Another shared heat followed with a hard riding Simon Nielsen passing Sneddon and fending him off to ensure a share of the points in the 7th.

Heat 8 delivered another 5-1 for the Monarchs with Taylor Poole having to pull out of the race. Another 3-3 followed and then Stead and Poole combined to give Tigers another 4-2 in heat 10 to square the meeting at the interval.

The final third of the meeting saw the strength of the Monarchs come to the fore as they banged in advantages in heats 11 and 12 before Simon Stead became the only rider to beat Cook in heat13.

A fantastic effort from Andre Compton in heat 14 couldn't stop another advantage for the Monarchs before Simon Stead's engine failure on the last bend in heat 15 allowed the Monarchs to reach 50 points which they hadn't looked like doing until that point.

SHEFFIELD 40: Simon Stead 11, Leigh Lanham 8+1, Andre Compton 8+1, Simon Nielsen 4+1, Taylor Poole 3+1, Ty Proctor 3, Josh Bates 3.

EDINBURGH 50: Craig Cook 14, Max Fricke 11, Sam Masters 9+1, Steve Worrall 8+2, Justin Sedgmen 5+1, Derek Sneddon 3, Aaron Fox 0.