Tigers go through!

SHEFFIELD PIRTEK TIGERS will meet newly crowned league champions Rye House in the Young Shield semi-finals after 54-38 defeat in Edinburgh - but they won 95-91 on aggregate.Andre Compton won the crucial Heat 15 when Edinburgh needed a maximum 5-1 to go through.A comfortable passage looked to be on the cards as the first five heats were shared and the 20-point first leg lead looked to be safe but a 14 -4 swing mid meeting in favour of the Scots gave them hope.Although Compton won heat nine he was not being used as a tactical which meant that the gap stayed at 10 points.And when the first tactical ride was used it failed as Sean Wilson, unbeaten up until then, had to play second fiddle to Matthew Wethers and Rusty Harrison and the resultant 5-2 left the Tigers on the brink of elimination.However the real drama unfolded in heat 14 as Sheffield almost let it slip. Richard Hall was nominated as a tactical substitute, which was in contravention of the rules, and was forced to go from the gate, thereby negating any opportunity of a double pointer and in the first running Hall wiped out both Wethers and Kyle Legault (Freddy says Kyle is ok but has bent both bikes badly) and was very fortunate to be allowed back into the re-run. Wethers was only able to continue after lengthy treatment and a fired up Monarchs pairing raced to a 5-1 to set up a last heat decider.Tigers knew the task in hand and Compton sped from the gate and despite Wilson being passed by Harrison for second, Tigers were relieved to go through. EDINBURGH: Matthew Wethers 14+2, Rusty Harrison 14+2, Theo Pijper 12, Daniel Nermark 8+1, William Lawson 5+2, Robert Ksiezak 1+1. TIGERS: Sean Wilson 12, Andre Compton 11+1, Ricky Ashworth 6+1, David McAllan (guest) 5, Richard Hall 2, Kyle Legault 2, Ben Wilson 0.