SHEFFIELD Tigers have it all to do if they are to retain an interest in this season's KO Cup - after a 28-point defeat at Armadale on Friday.

The home side controlled the meeting which was raced in wet conditions, and although Josh Auty again showed his liking for the circuit, Tigers' top five were unable to fire.

Skipper Ricky Ashworth suffered a disastrous meeting, and having already retired from Heat 1 he became involved in a three-way tangle also involving Joel Parsons and Andrew Tully in Heat 5, from which Parsons was excluded.

But Ashworth failed to beat the time allowance in the re-run and only completed one lap in what turned out to be his final ride of the night.

His opposing No.1, meanwhile, Ryan Fisher, romped to a maximum for the Monarchs, who were able to amply cover for a night of mechanical failures for Swedish star Thomas H Jonasson.

After winning the reserves' race, Auty also took charge of Heat 9 ahead of Andrew Tully, and Parsons gained a race win too in Heat 11 as Tigers battled to remain in contention.

They trailed by 16 points with three heats to go, but were unable to maintain that margin as the Monarchs took each of those final races with maximum 5-1s - and that leaves Tigers with a big uphill task for the second leg.

EDINBURGH 59: Ryan Fisher 15, Andrew Tully 13+1, Matthew Wethers 9+2, Michal Rajkowski 9+2, Aaron Summers 8+2, Sean Stoddart 4+1, Thomas H Jonasson 1.

SHEFFIELD 31: Josh Auty 12+1, Joel Parsons 6+1, Richard Hall 5+1, Paul Cooper 4, Ritchie Hawkins 3, Chris Mills 1, Ricky Ashworth 0.