Big home win for Tigers and Legault!!

SHEFFIELD 59 NEWPORT 33. SHEFFIELD Pirtek Tigers have one foot in the semi-finals of the Knockout Cup after coming on strong towards the end of Thursday's first leg against Newport. The South Wales side had kept things tight in the early stages to only trail by six points at the half-way stage - but Sheffield finished with five 5-1s in the last seven heats to rattle up a 26-point lead and whilst Newport have won their last two home matches by almost that number of points, Tigers' recent form on the road makes them strong favourites to progress from Sunday's second leg. Sheffield's only significant success in the opening eight heats was a third-race 5-1 from Emiliano Sanchez and Kyle Legault and with Newport working hard on containment the score after Heat 8 was 27-21 in Tigers' favour.But Sanchez was then to the fore as he and Kyle Legault left Carl Wilkinson and Billy Legg trailing in the ninth and the lively Sanchez then partnered Ricky Ashworth home in Heat 10.Newport did pull two points back when Doolan finished second on a tactical ride in heat 11, ahead of Atkin, but three more 5-1s in the final three heats - including two spectacular passes by Ashworth over Doolan - means the Welshmen will have to pull off one of the shocks of the season if they are to earn a plum semi date against Somerset. Both Ashworth and home skipper Andre Compton were in untouchable form for Sheffield with maximums while Sanchez and Legault each had four paid wins in their double-figure returns. PIRTEK TIGERS: Andre Compton 15, Ricky Ashworth 13+2, Kyle Legault 12+2, Emiliano Sanchez 11+1. Paul Cooper 7+1, Benji Compton 1+1. WASPS: Kevin Doolan 11, Joel Parsons 7+1, Carl Wilkinson 5, Neil Collins 4, Tony Atkin 3+2, Chris Schramm 3+1, Billy Legg 0.