Knockout Cup Quarter-final second leg

NEWPORT HORNETS 53 WEYMOUTH WILDCATS 35

Newport win 102-76 on agg

WEYMOUTH Weyline Wildcats saw their National League Knockout Cup hopes extinguished by the Newport Hornets despite starting with “a bang” in last night’s quarter-final second leg.

The Radipole Lane outfit travelled to South Wales as massive underdogs, needing to overturn an eight-point deficit following their 49-41 reversal on home shale at the end of May.

However, just five heats into meeting, the Cats had clawed back the arrears and put themselves in the driving seat, albeit by a single point.

The joy was short-lived though, as the Hornets fought back to avoid an upset and ensure their passage into the semi-finals.

Commercial manager Sam Knight felt the Wildcats let victory slip through their fingers.

She said: “We should have won – we threw it away. Newport dug deep and wanted it more than us in the end.

“We were still in contention for much of the meeting but after they drew level on the night in heat nine things went downhill.

“The track was poor to start with but we capitalised on that and I thought we would go on and get a result, but unfortunately it didn’t go our way.

“Some decisions didn’t go our way either but all in all it was disappointing to start with such a bang and then fizzle out.

“On the plus side, our reserves did very well, particularly Richard Andrews (10+1), while Byron Bekker (9) was Mr Reliable as always.”

The Cats, who entered the second leg clash trailing by eight points, found themselves further adrift after the first heat when Todd Kurtz ed the hosts to an opening 4-2.

Life got better for the visitors though in the very next race, which was awarded with Rich-ards Andrews leading and fellow Weymouth reserve Luke Chessell right behind him in second.

And they remained three points ahead on the night when Gary Cottham and Tom Brown secured a 3-3 in race three.

The Wildcats continued to close in on their opponents and the aggregate gap stood at just one point after James Cockle and Chessell bagged a second maximum of the night.

Former Cat Tim Webster was escorted to hospital soon after with a suspected broken collarbone before the away side took the overall lead to heap further misery on the bewildered hosts.

However, the Hornets were stung into action after falling behind and saw leading lights Kurtz and Mark Jones spearhead a home maximum.

The momentum stayed with Newport and by the end of heat 10 they had moved four points clear on the night and 12 ahead on aggregate – thanks in part to the efforts of ex-Weymouth rider Kyle Newman (12).

The tie was now slipping away from the Cats and heading into the final race the Hornets had the meeting sewn up.

By the end of the night, the home side secured a 102-76 aggregate victory to book their spot in the last four.