King’s Lynn bowed out of the KO Cup with defeat at Sheffield

King’s Lynn’s Knockout Cup hopes were ended with a 54-36 semi-final defeat at Sheffield on Thursday.

Injury-hit PSH Environmental Stars stayed in the Owlerton competition until the closing stages, looking to defend their ten-point first-leg lead and were helped by an outstanding performance from Rising Star Anders Rowe.

But as those final races approached, it always looked like a tough test against a Tigers team, with their heat leaders all firing strongly and the hosts confirmed their outright victory in the penultimate selection of the night.

Stars manager Rob Lyon said: “I’d like to think it would have been different with one-on-seven, and it would be nice to compete on a level playing field, to be honest.

“But the guests sometimes work for you, sometimes they don’t, they worked for us on Monday (at Birmingham) and they didn’t work tonight, and that’s how it goes.

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“Fair play to the Sheffield lads, they’ve been called on since the middle of the match and they’ve come away from us so it’s a bit frustrating but that’s the way it goes.

“Anders was superb, he went really well all night and I can’t fault him at all. He probably had his best match of the season and we were good at spells but overall not good enough.”

The main damage was done by the home combination of Jack Holder and Kyle Howarth, who raced to 5-1 in each of their races together, starting in Heat 1 when Holder exploded to the front on the back straight and Howarth followed on next to the Stars guest. Zach Cook on turn four.

Rowe chased Jason Edwards hard in a split Heat 2 while the Tigers took a 4-2 lead from Heat 3 with Niels-Kristian Iversen holding off Josh Pickering for second.

There was then a sensation in Heat 4 when Rowe pulled off one of the biggest wins of his career, pulling away and then running a perfect race to hold off three-time world champion Tai Woffinden, while Jan Kvech regained the place three from Edwards.

But the Tigers moved ten points ahead on the night with leads in the next two races as Pickering was deemed to have wrested third on the line from Richard Lawson in an all-out finish in Heat 5.

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With Holder and Howarth taking the second 5-1 in Heat 6 to make it 23-13, the Stars needed to close and did just that with each of the next three split races.

Benjamin Basso passed Dan Gilkes for third in Heat 7 before Rowe was clear in the next, although Cook was unlucky as he was squeezed by Howarth on the back right and lost all momentum.

Kvech was an impressive winner of Heat 9 ahead of Pickering and Chris Holder, keeping the aggregate scores level, but Jack Holder and Howarth put Sheffield into the overall lead for the first time with maximum points over Iversen and Basso in Heat 10.

Lawson and Rowe packed in behind Woffinden in Heat 11 and the next one was also shared thanks to Rowe and Iversen in second and third.

But Heat 13 was always going to look strong for Sheffield and so it proved with Jack Holder and Woffinden making the start for a 5-1, although Kvech deserved credit for chasing them all the way and gaining ground in the final two laps.

That left the Stars needing two 5-1 runs in the final two races to tie things up, but while Basso was rewarded for a tough night with a win over Pickering in Heat 14, Rowe was forced out in the first round and his super meet. ended with a last place.

Chris Holder took his fourth win of the night in a split Heat 15, but there was another strong run by Kvech to catch him and challenge on lap four, with Iversen in third ahead of Pickering.

The Stars now enter a home run in the Rowe Motor Oil Premiership with Leicester visiting the Adrian Flux Arena on Monday (July 1).

Sheffield 54: Chris Holder 13+1, Jack Holder 11+1, Tai Woffinden 11, Kyle Howarth 7+4, Josh Pickering 6, Dan Gilkes 3+1, Jason Edwards 3.

36 King’s Lynn: Anders Rowe 11+1, Jan Kvech 8, Niels-Kristian Iversen 7+2, Benjamin Basso 4+1, Zach Cook 3, Richard Lawson 2, Paco Castagna 1+1.

Sheffield won 94-86 on aggregate