Rory Schlein: Wolves can turn cup clash around at Monmore

That’s despite losing the away leg of their semi-final 54-36 at Sheffield on Thursday leaving the Parrys International Wolves with an 18-point deficit to overturn to make it through.

The end result doesn’t quite reflect how the full contest panned out in South Yorkshire though as the Wolves were only six points down with four races remaining.

But Sheffield struck three late 5-1s to extend their advantage.

And while Schlein admits they were hoping to keep it close, he feels their efforts from the first 11 races have just about kept their hopes alive.

“They’re pretty special around their place so we knew it was going to be tough,” he said. “We hung in there for quite a bit but it was just a hard meeting.

“The gate positions were swinging around; they favoured Sheffield at first and then they came back to us and the track rode a little bit inconsistent but it’s the same for everyone.

“We know what we can do in the second leg though so while the result could’ve been better, we’ve given ourselves an outside chance for sure.”

The Monmore men managed just one win in the opening seven races, but with four 3-3s they stayed within eight of the Tigers.

Wolves then dug deep to reel off four straight race winners – but only one of those saw them register a heat advantage as they narrowly closed the gap to six.

But the hosts rallied and finished with three 5-1s in the final four races to put them in the driving seat ahead of the decider at Monmore Green on Monday, June 19 (7.30pm).

In the meantime, the Parrys International Wolves are back in home action this coming Monday (June 12, 7.30) as Peterborough visit for the second time this season in the Sports Insure Premiership.