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ROCKETS ADVANCE IN CUP
Sunday April 21, 2013
Although defeated 52-38 on the day, the Silver Ski Rockets comfortably eased into the quarter-finals of this year’s Knock-Out Cup with a 23 point aggregate victory over Glasgow (101-78).
Defending a massive 37 point advantage from the first leg, the Rockets effectively had the tie sewn up by holding their hosts to a 17-13 margin at Heat 5, and had it mathematically clinched as early as Heat 8.
While Anders Mellgren’s run of consecutive double figure hauls finally stalled at six, there were plenty of positives to take from the match, not least Jason Garrity’s warm-up for Tuesday’s British U-21 Final with a 10 point tally that included a thrilling victory in Heat 8 after finding a gap that few others could to surge around Joey Ringwood on the third lap.
Tyson Nelson followed Garrity to 10 points, while Olly Allen would surely have bettered that record by a point but for a fall while leading Heat 11. 2012 Raider James Sarjeant – guesting for the injured Simon Lambert – added an important early victory in Heat 2 and was close to passing Ringwood in Heat 8, only to fall.
Talking afterwards, however, team manager John Sampford focused on the team aspect of the aggregate achievement rather than any individual prowess. “We knew the task in hand and the lads set about it. We wanted to get as many points on the board as early as possible in order take the sting out of Glasgow’s attack as quickly as we could, and we did just that. All the lads chipped in with points to make sure that we had the result we wanted by Heat 8.â€
The Rockets’ success brings up a second round pairing with Sheffield, with the Tigers set to host the first leg on Thursday, June 13th, and the tie being settled at Rye House two nights later. Sampford refuses to be drawn this early on as to what to expect in two months’ time, other than to admit that “We’ve had some good nights at Owlerton – most obviously last October’s draw and 2007’s Championship Play-Off Final when we held the Tigers to just 9 points – and some pretty bad ones. We’ll try and keep it as tight as we can and then aim to pile on the pressure in our home leg.â€
Rye House scorers:
Olly Allen 8 (4 rides)
Jason Bunyan R/R
Anders Mellgren 4 (5 rides)
Jason Garrity 10 (5)
Tyson Nelson 10 (6)
Kasper Lykke 2+1 (5)
James Sarjeant (guest) 4+1 (5)
Glasgow scorers:
Joe Screen 9+1 (4 rides)
Joey Ringwood 7+1 (4)
James Wright 11 (5)
Henning Bager 6+3 (4)
James Grieves 10+2 (5)
Harley Horwood 7 (4)
Joe Jacobs 2+1 (4)
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