SHEFFIELD will take a three point lead to Leicester for the decider of their ROWE Motor Oil Premiership Play-Off Semi-Final after a 46-43 home win on Thursday.

It should’ve been more however as the Tru7 Group Tigers found themselves 14 points ahead with just three races to go at Owlerton - but with the visitors having the favourable gate positions and a questionable refereeing decision handing Leicester a 5-0, the hosts added just three points in the final three races.

What would be an eventful semi-final tie all round got started in dramatic fashion when the tapes were held in the opener and caught out Sheffield No.1 Jack Holder.

He was replaced in the re-run by Anders Rowe who made a great start alongside Leon Flint - who was brought down when Leicester captain Max Fricke stormed up his inside into bend three.

The Tigers emulated their quick starts though and opened with a 5-1.

Heat Two was shared before another tapes infringement in Heat Three, this time for the visitors’ Ryan Douglas. And the Tigers took full advantage of his disqualification in the re-run with Nick Morris blocking Drew Kemp’s run, allowing Chris Holder into second.

The Tigers’ dream start continued with a third maximum in Heat Four; Josh Pickering and Rowe outgated their opponents before coasting the four laps well ahead to open up an early 12 point lead.

A fired up Fricke was in no mood for letting Chris Holder past on a tight opening lap in a shared Heat Five before Leicester secured a surprise 5-1 of their own in Heat Six with reserve Kemp taking the flag ahead of Masters, both defeating Jack Holder.

Jye Etheridge shed a chain on the start line in Heat Seven before Pickering went on to make it two out of two.

But it was Etheridge who brought the house down with one of the last gasp passes of the season in Heat Eight. With Flint working his way past Kemp after a tight tussle in the early stages, Etheridge then blasted around the outside in a stunning move on the final two bends.

A fourth 3-3 occurred in Heat Nine before another breathtaking Heat 10. Douglas thought he’d done enough to hold off Jack Holder, but the Tigers’ No.1 stormed underneath on the last lap to take the flag.

Heat 11 was another shared race, this time with Fricke racing Pickering hard into bend three to end the Sheffield skipper’s unbeaten night and whilst Chris Holder held on to win Heat 12, Rowe crept up the inside of Kemp for third to move 43-29 ahead.

Jack Holder and Pickering conceded a 5-1 in Heat 13 before plenty of drama in Heat 14.

A tight first bend saw both Morris and Kemp come down at speed with the pair running out wide as Kyle Howarth went straight for the dirt line - all four riders returned for the restart.

That saw Morris run out of room on bend four this time, the Aussie excluded after another high speed spill.

But the biggest talking point came following another first bend incident, with Rowe deemed to be the cause of the stoppage with Howarth hitting the dirt.

That gifted the visitors a 5-0 before Jack Holder split the Masters and Fricke pairing in Heat 15.

The second leg takes place at the Hydroscand Arena on Monday (September 22, 7.30pm).

ROWE MOTOR OIL PREMIERSHIP PLAY-OFF, SEMI-FINAL, 1st Leg SHEFFIELD 46: Anders Rowe 8+3, Chris Holder 8+2, Josh Pickering 8, Jack Holder 7, Nick Morris 6+1, Leon Flint 5+1, Jye Etheridge 4+1.
LEICESTER 43: Sam Masters 12+1, Drew Kemp 10, Max Fricke 9+1, Kyle Howarth 6+2, Ryan Douglas 5+1, Luke Becker 1, Joe Thompson 0.