REACTION: “We’ve left ourselves with a slightly bigger hill to climb than we’d like for the second leg at Oxford next week, but it’s still very much within our reach.”

MONARCH Oxford Cheetahs will set a target of 52 points at Sandy Lane next Wednesday (May 1) to progress to the Cab Direct Knockout Cup semi-finals, after a 39-51 defeat in the first leg of their quarter-final at Glasgow last night (Friday).

For the first half of the meeting at the Peugeot Ashfield Stadium, the meeting was going exactly how Cheetahs wished, as they took a 4-2 from young reserve pairing Ashton Boughen and Luke Killeen in Heat 2 and then held a two-point advantage throughout the first half of the meeting. Cheetahs were still 22-20 ahead after seven races.

Glasgow went ahead with a 5-1 in Heat 8, and had extended their lead to 42-30 after 12 races. There was some entertaining racing along the way, including an enthralling late run by Boughen around the outside in Heat 9 which saw him charge around one and almost both Tigers, only to run out of the track and finish last. Cheetahs suffered a moment of misfortune when No 1 Sam Masters – who looked unbeatable before that – pulled out of Heat 11 with a mechanical issue.

A stellar Heat 13 saw a 4-2 for Cheetahs and a win for Oxford skipper Scott Nicholls after coming out on top in a thrilling battle with old rival Chris Harris.

Jordan Jenkins held out Paul Starke for second place in Heat 14, behind the flying Jack Smith, who stepped in for the currently suspended Lee Complin. Fellow Glasgow reserve Ace Pijper crashed out in Heat 7 with a suspected broken wrist, but it merely enabled Smith to take more outings and he responded with a 10+2 tally.

Heat 15 was another good race, with Masters ending his evening with a victory, while Nicholls found himself eventually pegged to the back. Nicholls (10+1) and Masters (10) led the scoring for Cheetahs.

Oxford skipper Scott Nicholls said: “Glasgow are very strong around here. We had a couple of mechanical issues, but overall we can have no complaints, because the best team on the night won.

“We’ve left ourselves with a slightly bigger hill to climb than we’d like for the second leg at Oxford next week, but it’s still very much within our reach. Oxford is a pretty fair racetrack, but we need to dig in and work hard and get some momentum going as a team. With our fans behind us, we can still do it next Wednesday and progress to the cup semi-finals.”

Glasgow Tigers 51: Chris Harris 11+1, James Pearson 6+2, Leon Flint 8+2, Paul Starke 5, Steve Worrall 9+1, Ace Pijper 2, Jack Smith 10+2.

Monarch Oxford Cheetahs 39: Sam Masters 10, Henry Atkins 0, Cameron Heeps 4+1, Jordan Jenkins 6+1, Scott Nicholls 10+1, Ashton Boughen 6, Luke Killeen 3.