Prowlers through but Allott loss hits title hopes.

Sheffield Prowlers eased themselves through to the next round of the Conference League Knockout Cup with a comprehensive defeat of Newcastle last night [Monday] by a score of 58-32. After forcing a draw in the first let on Sunday it was always odds on a Sheffield victory in the second leg.

Prowlers through but Allott loss hits title hopes.

Sheffield Prowlers eased themselves through to the next round of the Conference League Knockout Cup with a comprehensive defeat of Newcastle last night [Monday] by a score of 58-32. After forcing a draw in the first let on Sunday it was always odds on a Sheffield victory in the second leg.

Adam Allott and Ricky Ashworth unbeaten for Sheffield as were Ben Powell and Trevor Harding apart from a fall (Powell) and a rare last place (Harding). With the apparent retirement of David Speight, Sheffield gave a debut to Michael Mitchell who showed up well with a couple of second places.

Early heat wins by Richard Hall and William Lawson contrived to keep the tie a tight affair and in fact it remained wide open after six heats with Sheffield leading by just four points. Consecutive maximums shot that lead out to twelve but Newcastle slammed in a maximum of their own in heat nine to keep their chances slim, but certainly alive.

And at ten points behind with four races to go Newcastle still had a mathematical chance of progression. That was until the Prowlers went one better than their three closing 5-1s at Newcastle yesterday and blasted an amazing four straight maximums to make the final score a somewhat flattering 58-32 and a comfortable aggregate victory over the two legs.

But how the Sheffield youngsters will fare over the remainder of their season in their quest for three consecutive Conference League championships is open to examination. Adam Allott is now ineligible for Conference League racing after joining Premier League Somerset on loan and David Speight apparently lost to retirement.

Scorers:

Sheffield
Ricky Ashworth 11, Luke Priest 5, Michael Mitchell 4, Ben Wilson 7, Adam Allott 11, Trevor Harding 10, Ben Powell 10
Newcastle
Richard Hall 9, Lee Howard 0, Carl Shield 2, William Lawson 7, Craig Branney 4, Jamie Robertson 7, Benji Compton 3

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