SHEFFIELD boss Simon Stead admits he was discontent with his side’s three point win in the home leg of their ROWE Motor Oil Premiership Play-Off Semi-Final against Leicester on Thursday.
The Tru7 Group Tigers lead the tie 46-43 - but they left Owlerton somewhat dejected as they led by 14 with just three races to go.
The South Yorkshire side made an unbelievably strong start with three 5-1s in the opening four races to move 18-6 ahead.
And with some tremendous examples of sheer determination shown, with numerous fine passing manoeuvres, they looked in a solid position heading into the closing stages.
But they managed just three points in the last three races, something Stead admits he was shocked by, as the visitors reduced the margin significantly.
“I’m disappointed because we’d done so much right over a long period of the meeting,” Stead said.
“To get to Heat 12 and be in that position was a really good effort - but the tide turned and now we’ve got three points to play with.
“Usually the heats we’re so strong in, we just didn’t get there tonight.
“It was full commitment all night but Leicester fought back and showed what you can do as the away team - we need to go with the same fight on Monday and see what we can do.”
An extremely key, and potentially costly, moment came in the third attempt of Heat 14 when the visitors were gifted a 5-0 when SCB Referee Dave Watters excluded lone Tiger Anders Rowe for what was a clear first bend coming together.
And having been on the wrong end of several questionable decisions in play-off campaigns in recent years, Stead is desperate to see an improvement in standards, particularly on the bigger, most important occasions.
“Obviously the referee has never seen a first corner at Sheffield before,” Stead said.
“That was just a normal first corner and that happens a lot.
“Kyle (Howarth) knows this place inside out, he was going for the racing line as was Anders and Anders got his nose there first.
“That really cost us because the eight point swing from a potential 3-3 to a 0-5 is huge.
“What frustrates me the most is that we get to the play-offs every year and yet again we’re talking about refereeing decisions.
“You sound like a broken record when you get to these sort of fixtures, we talk about the same things over and over and we never seem to get any improvement or consistency.
“It’s just the same story and something has to change.”
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.
