Wolves suffer first home defeat of the season

After falling behind in the third race of the night, the Parrys International Wolves were always playing catch-up.

And 5-1s for the visitors in heats 12 and 14 condemned them to their second defeat inside five days at the hands of the Brummies.

Wolves boss Peter Adams felt the absence of Aussie No.2 Ty Proctor through injury had a big influence on the result.

He said: "We're disappointed but we're not surprised, because Ty was always going to be a big miss given the form he's been in.

"We were just unfortunate to run into the league's form team whilst we were slightly weakened, but it isn't going to kill us – we'll be back."

Fredrik Lindgren and Tai Woffinden starred for the hosts once again – both scoring 13+1 – yet they received minimal support elsewhere.

Ricky Wells suffered two engine failures while in scoring positions and middle order partner Adam Skornicki endured a tough night on his comeback from injury.

Down at reserve, Swedish duo Ludvig Lindgren and Jacob Thorssell struggled against their in-form Brummies counterparts as the Wolves slipped to their third loss of the campaign.

Elite League leaders Wolves are three points clear of Birmingham, who have two matches in hand.

During the interval, up to 60 youngsters supporting both teams took to the track to do a walking lap in aid of Cancer Research UK with Woffinden to the famous Wolves anthem the Liquidator.

Wolves 41: Tai Woffinden 13+1, Freddie Lindgren 13+1, Ludvig Lindgren 6, Ricky Wells 5+1, Adam Skornicki 2+1, Jacob Thorssell 2, Ty Proctor R-R.

Birmingham 49: Martin Smolinski 12, Chris Harris 9+1, Danny King 9+1, Jason Doyle 8+1, Nico Covatti 6+1, Josh Auty 5+3, Ben Barker R-R.

By Rich Jones