King’s Lynn will take on Sheffield to keep their faint play-off hopes alive

King’s Lynn gave another demonstration of their potential with an impressive 51-39 win over defending champions Sheffield at the Adrian Flux Arena.

PSH Environmental Stars returned to winning ways with a superb all-round team performance against what had previously been their crazy side, with Lynn now beating the Tigers on the last two occasions they have met in Norfolk.

The difference was in being able to track a six-man unit with guests who were able to largely replicate the score of the missing pilots.

Richard Lawson led the way with 12 points and Luke Becker kicked 7+2 – and the margin could have been a higher number of points but for two moments of misfortune for Jan Kvech, who still scored -12.

The result keeps Lynn with an outside chance of a play-off place as they currently sit nine points behind fourth-placed Oxford but with five games in hand – and the games against Leicester will be also crucial.

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Stars manager Rob Lyon said: “It was nice to get a win tonight. We managed to bring in some good guys and they both did a really good job for us.

“It shows that when we have a full squad, or almost a full squad, we’re a match for anyone here, and that’s the frustrating part.

“They went well as a team and we didn’t have any major weak links, we were solid throughout. It’s a great result and we’re on to the next one.”

Lawson set the tone with a win in Heat 1, ensuring Sheffield No.1 Jack Holder would not have one of his unbeaten nights at the AFA, and there was another Heat 2 5-1 from Patryk Wojdylo and Anders Rowe to put on the stars. four points above.

The gap grew to six when Lawson headed Chris Holder in Heat 4 with Rowe in third, before Kvech and Niels-Kristian Iversen hit 5-1 on Jack Holder in the next to put Lynn ten points clear .

Kvech suffered some cruel luck in Heat 6 with a late puncture costing him the win in Heat 6 and Wojdylo was on the receiving end of a tough first corner in the next but still held on to third ahead of former Stars captain Josh Pickering .

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And there was a bonus in Heat 8 when Dan Gilkes grounded out to second for the visitors, turning a 3-3 into a Stars 4-2 and putting the hosts up 30-18.

Tigers guest Ryan Douglas made a tactical substitution ride in Heat 9, where an unusual incident saw Kvech disqualified after Douglas went down, before the Sheffield riders took a second chance with a 5- 1 on Iversen.

But Iversen hit straight to partner Becker for maximum points over Pickering and Douglas in the next to rebuild the 12-point lead.

That gave the Stars plenty to defend and there was plenty of racing spirit in the side, with Lawson holding off Sheffield 5-1 through a late pass from Kyle Howarth in Heat 11, while Kvech came out on top in Heat 12, getting the better of Jason Edwards.

The Holder brothers won what turned out to be a consolation 5-1 in Heat 13, but again the Stars’ answer was immediate through Wojdylo and Iversen in Heat 14.

Both Lawson and Kvech beat Jack Holder in a split Heat 15, the race won by an impressive Chris Holder who ensured the Tigers were not seriously threatened for the point total.

Lynn are next in action at Ipswich on Thursday before another big week at the Adrian Flux Arena begins next Monday (August 5) against Leicester.

51 King’s Lynn: Richard Lawson 12, Jan Kvech 11+1, Niels-Kristian Iversen 9+3, Luke Becker 7+2, Patryk Wojdylo 7+1, Anders Rowe 5+1, Benjamin Basso r/r.

Sheffield 39: Chris Holder 13+1, Ryan Douglas 9, Jack Holder 6+2, Kyle Howarth 6, Josh Pickering 2, Jason Edwards 2, Dan Gilkes 1.

Sheffield win the total point