Sheffield Tigers have given themselves a mountain to climb to earn a second ROWE Motor Oil Premiership Grand Final title in four years.
Going into the rearranged first leg at Owlerton Stadium on Monday knowing they had to earn a big lead to take across the Pennines for Friday night’s return leg where Belle Vue have won every meeting this year, Tigers suffered a 47-43 reverse.
The Tigers raced into an early six point lead courtesy of three straight 4-2s but were pegged back level by the end of heat five.
The Owlerton outfit then opened and maintained a two point advantage up until the end of Heat Nine before racing to two further 4-2s to re-establish the six point gap.
But the visitors, who topped the regular-season standings, rounded off with three straight advantages, including two 5-1s from 2026 Grand Prix duo Brady Kurtz and Jason Doyle, with their Heat 15 maximum giving the Aces the edge going into Friday’s (October 16, 7.30pm) decider at the National Speedway Stadium.
Tigers team boss Simon Stead said: “We’re obviously all disappointed, it’s never nice to lose at home, never mind in a Grand Final.
“Ultimately Belle Vue showed why they’ve been top of the league for pretty much the entirety of the season and we’ve left ourselves with a task on our hands - but there’s still 15 heats to go.
“We’ll go to Belle Vue on Friday and give it our best shot, that’s all we can do.
“I want to take the opportunity to thank all the fans who turned up in great numbers and supported us all the way - let’s just see what happens.”