Reading Bulldogs 49 Peterborough Panthers 47 Monday 2nd October 2006 Sky Sports Elite League Play-Off Final 1st Leg
Peterborough Panthers once again showed the great resilience that they have demonstrated time after time in 2006, when they clawed back a 14-point deficit to keep within 2 points of the Reading Bulldogs after the first fifteen heats of their Championship Play-Off Final. Panthers now face the Bulldogs in the crucial 2nd leg showdown at the Showground next Monday 9th October at 7.30pm.
There was a huge crowd packed into Smallmead Stadium that saw probably one of the best and most tense Elite League meetings of the season to date. Heavy rain earlier in the day had left the track greasy to such an extent that it caused problems for both teams in the early stages.
Panthers started the meeting with a 4-2, although possibly not as expected with Piotr Swiderski showing no fears over the wet surface as he lead from the tapes for a superb victory over world number 2 Greg Hancock as Hans Andersen rather surprisingly had to settle for third place. Czech Republic star Sam Simota won heat two from Richard Hall to level matters before the first controversy of the night raised its head in heat 3. Janusz Kolodziej appeared to go down all too easily on the first bend but it wasn’t until the latter stages of the first lap that referee Jim Lawrence chose to stop the race. You would normally expect immediate red race-stop lights in that situation but the delay suggested the Pole was at fault only for the referee to announce an ‘all-four back’ decision. The re-run was a shared 3-3 before more controversy in heat four.
Panthers management had no cause to complain when the referee excluded Jesper B Jensen as he slid off on the second lap whilst in second place. What possibly wasn’t apparent to fans present at the meeting was that Bulldog Sam Simota threw a chain whilst in third and slipped into the wet shale causing Ulrich Ostergaard who was in pursuit to ride into him. The red lights went on and Lawrence rightly excluded Jensen for being the main cause of the stoppage but failed to penalise Simota. No-one in either camp or the Sky presenters could quite believe the decision made and Panthers Manager, Trevor Swales, was quite understandably upset by it.
The inevitable happened in the re-run as Reading picked up a 5-1. Heat 5 saw Andersen and the impressive Swiderski pick up a 4-2 over Charlie Gjedde before the Bulldogs took initiative as Panthers started to struggle. The Reading riders certainly seemed to get tuned in to the ever-changing track surface a lot quicker than their Peterborough counterparts and by the end of heat 10 they were facing disaster at 37-23 with the Berkshire side some 14 points ahead.
Panthers just had to step up their game and they did just that making full use of the sports tactical options by winning heats 11 and 12 by 7-2 margins to suddenly reduce the arrears to four points with the score looking more respectable at 41-37. Hans Andersen was first to oblige before Ryan Sullivan found some form with a win over Kolodziej in heat 12 to lift the hordes of Panthers fans who had become somewhat subdued a few races earlier.
This gave Panthers some belief again and it was the turn of Reading boss, Jim Lynch, to start looking worried. In Heat 13, Andersen and Jensen hit the front first only for Kolodziej to take up the mantle. A safe 3-3 looked on the cards until the Danes got in each others way to allow Hancock a gifted 3rd place. Jesper seemed to be really struggling with the slippery conditions perhaps not surprising considering his recent return from injury.
A shared heat 14 set up a tense finale, which looked set to go right to the wire as Andersen, Sullivan and Hancock jetted from the tapes. Hancock got in to trouble on the second bend as he suffered electrical problems and from then on in Panthers fans were hysterical as one of their best comebacks of the season was complete. It may not have resulted in victory but after being 14 points down it certainly felt like it.
Celebrations at the end were possibly a little premature given Reading’s record in 2006 at the East of England Showground but it was evident what it meant to the Panthers riders to go into the second leg with every chance of taking the glory. The happier camp was certainly red and black.
