Dudley Heathens lose the first leg

Dudley Heathens 43 Buxton Hitmen 47

Poor rehearsal, tremendous first night?

Dudley will hope so after being given a harsh lesson by a five-man Buxton side which will be back in the play-offs next month.

That's not to disparage the Knockout Cup - a competition, two levels up, which the Heathens all but made their own in the 1980s glory days.

But Dudley went into this season with their sights set on even higher things.

However, they were distinctly second best at Monmore Green last night in the first leg of the semi-final, against a team already running rider-replacement for Jonathan Bethell and which lost reserve Lewis Dallaway to a heat two crash.

The Walsall-born rider looped and went out of the 'back door' after contact with team-mate Jason Garrity on the second bend exit, Dallaway's bike leaping clean over the safety fence.

The rider was taken to hospital and later released and Buxton were forced to track only one man in three races.

But team manager Jack Lee rang the changes with some aplomb and the home side's collective difficulty on a track hit by heavy afternoon rain meant that the Hitmen were able to claim a 3-3 in each short-handed race.

All square with two to go, Dudley were handed a lifeline when the under-utilised Ashley Morris capped a fine night's effort by diving inside the fast-starting Adam Allott and pulling clear for an admirable win.

But their best two riders on the night, Micky Dyer and Tom Perry, could make no impression on Allott and Craig Cook in the last as Buxton took a four-point lead into Sunday's return.

Cook, last year's National League Riders Champion, has operated so effectively for Workington in the Premier League this season that for a time he was number one in the Cumbrians' averages.

After missing out in the first heat he stamped his authority all over the match, backed by Allott, Garrity and talented Aussie Nick Morris - son of Heathens fan Lee Morris, ironically.

Garrity is 15, possessed of boundless enthusiasm and a tad wild - he had two disqualifications and all but T-boned team-mate Robert Branford in a desperate, if unavailing attempt to deprive him of the consolation third place in heat eight.

But he's got spirit and talent, as have Dyer and Perry. Dyer, stuck in traffic on the way to the stadium, arrived just in time to contest the first race.

He was full value for his dozen points while the dashing Perry again worked the high line to good effect, notably when eventually seeing off Garrity in heat nine.

But captain Lee Smart had, by his standards, an indifferent evening while Jake Anderson continues to look uncomfortable at Monmore Green.

Richard Franklin chipped in, his best moment a pass on Robert Branford at precisely the point where Leon Madsen had brought down Matt Wethers in the Wolves match the previous evening.

Here there was no contact and Franklin opened up a gap to follow Dyer to the line for the Heathens' second and final 5-1 advantage.

But from there the Heathens fluffed their lines.

By Tim Hamblin