Dudley Heathens go out of the cup

Buxton 45 Dudley 48 (Buxton win 92-91 on aggregate)

Dudley suffered single-point heartbreak in their National League Knockout Cup semi-final.

The Heathens produced one of their best performances of the season to take victory in Derbyshire.

But their four-point deficit from the first leg at Monmore Green proved decisive.

Captain Lee Smart - away on Young Shield duty with Stoke - had predicted big things at Buxton from Barrie Evans and Jake Anderson.

Both had struggled at Monmore Green but more than justified Smart's confidence in the return.

Dudley were 21-9 down after just five races but Evans, on double points, combined with Ashley Morris for an 8-1 which sparked a revival by the visitors.

A maximum heat advantage in heat 13 from Evans and Micky Dyer left the Heathens needing a 4-2 and a 5-1 from the last two races.

It seemed as if the dream might yet come true when Anderson and Morris hit the front in the penultimate heat, but Morris fell and that left Buxton needing only to provide a finisher in the last race to go through to a final with King's Lynn.

Anderson and Evans duly cleaned up but it was not enough as Dudley came up agonisingly short.