PETERBOROUGH PANTHERS 43 READING BULLDOGS 49 Sky Sports Elite League ‘B’ – Monday 11th September 2006
The score line flattered Panthers’ performance at the East of England Showground last night. They were simply not at the races.
Time and again the Reading riders made the gate and roared to a 5-1. And on a slick track which was drastically different to last Thursday’s against Arena Essex riders like Richard Hall had no chance of doing a blast around the boards.
In fact Hall – who is already nursing a collarbone injury - slid off on the fourth bend in heat 7 when going wide and bashed his funny bone. And he wasn’t the only rider to take a tumble. In heat 10 Hans Andersen tangled with Janus Kolodzieji in the first bend and a lengthy delay followed before both were back on their feet.
The Skipper pointed out at the press conference that he has crashed in three meetings recently: Thursday against Arena, Saturday in the Grand Prix in Latvia and Monday at the Showground. A broken bone in his hand as a result of Saturday’s crash meant that he was already riding through the pain barrier against Reading.
When the re-run of heat 10 got underway a determined ride from Andersen down the back straight ensured that he got the race win but it was first time the crowd had seen a Panthers’ winner since heat 6 (in that heat it was again Andersen).
Was this really the same side who only let Arena win one race on Thursday? But then the Hammers are languishing at the bottom of the table and Reading showed that they have not been at the top for nothing. They proved for the second time this season that they can come to ‘Fortress Alwalton’ and win.
In Panthers’ defence, the luck wasn’t with them last night. Niels Kristen Iversen pulled on the black and white helmet colour in heat 12, gated and then promptly suffered an engine failure before he had even done half a lap.
And reserve Piotr Swiderski who scored 8+2 in the last meeting was stranded in Poland after a five hour flight delay. Former Panther Alan Mogridge answered an SOS call from Trevor Swales at 4pm and cannot take any of the blame as he contributed four points but it certainly would have helped Panthers’ cause if they had been a full strength.
When Panthers’ sent Andersen out for double points in heat 13 it really was the last throw of the dice. Up against Reading number one Greg Hancock – still on a high from his victory in Latvia – the injured Andersen could not manage more than second place while Jesper B Jensen trailed round at the back – clearly having a rare off night.
That heat left the score line 33-47 and all that Panthers had left to race for was pride. Hall and Sullivan gated to a 5-1 in heat 14 and Sullivan then teamed up with Andersen for another 5-1 in heat 15 to reduce the score line to six points. But the important thing in determining who goes into the play-offs in top spot was that Reading had bagged the two meeting points and the bonus.
Team Manager Trevor Swales apologised for the team’s performance in the post-meeting press conference and added: “We’re gutted. It was one of those nights when nothing went right for us. There is no time when you are on Sky to alter the track to your advantage.”
Indeed much of the press conference focused on the track with Swales explaining that an event at the Showground at the weekend meant that the track curator did not have access until late on Sunday and that he could not get enough water into the track.
And worryingly there is another event at the Showground this weekend before Panthers face Swindon on Monday - once more in front of the Sky Sports cameras. They cannot afford a repeat performance of their showing against Reading.
Report by Sarah Tooze
PETERBOROUGH PANTHERS 43 Agg: 85
1 Hans Andersen 3 3 3 4 3 = 16 2 Ulrich Ostergaard 0 0 2 0 = 2 3 Niels K Iversen 3 1 0 R = 4 4 Ryan Sullivan 1 0 3 2' 2' = 8+2 5 Jesper Jensen 2 1 0 0 = 3 6 Richard Hall 2 FX 1 3 = 6 7 Alan Mogridge 1' 1' 1' 1 = 4+3