SHEFFIELD put in a promising performance in their first home meeting of the season despite suffering a narrow 47-43 defeat against Leicester at Owlerton.
The Window Centre Tigers pushed their Elite League opponents all the way, forcing a last-heat decider before eventually falling just short.
After suffering a 59-34 first leg defeat last Saturday, joint team manager Eric Boocock was pleased with a battling showing from his new-look side in their first Owlerton appearance of 2016.
Boocock said: “Considering it was against a full-blown Elite League side, I was pleased with the performance to run them as close as we did.
“It would have been nice to get a draw or a win, but it was probably a fair result in the end and it was a good, close meeting.
“There were plenty of things to be positive about, the boys are definitely improving so we are looking forward to our League Cup meeting at Scunthorpe on Sunday.”
World No.5 Jason Doyle top scored for the hosts as he guested in place of the injured Simon Stead, whilst Kyle Howarth also added double figures with an impressive performance on his home debut.
All-action Frenchman Dimitri Berge improved as the meeting progressed and claimed his first race win for the club in heat eight whilst Richard Hall scooped Rider of the Night on his return to the club.
His reserve partner, Nathan Greaves, pulled off arguably the ride of the night to hold off Lions’ heat-leader Sebastian Ulamek for second place in heat four and strike a 5-1 alongside Jason Garrity.
Garrity was in the thick of the action throughout for his five points, whilst Josh Bates continued to battle hard despite struggling with illness.
The Tigers will now face their first competitive meeting of the season as they travel to Scunthorpe in the League Cup on Sunday (3pm) looking to earn their first win of the campaign.
SHEFFIELD 43: Jason Doyle 10+1, Kyle Howarth 10, Richard Hall 7+1, Dimitri Berge 6, Jason Garrity 5, Nathan Greaves 3+2, Josh Bates 2+1.
LEICESTER 47: Josh Auty 11+1, Patrick Hougaard 10+1, Grzegorz Walasek 9+1, Nicolai Klindt 6+1, Sebastian Ulamek 6, Paul Starke 4, Chris Widman 1+1.
