MATCH REPORT: Coventry take the first leg

Coventry 98-81 Birmingham (Challenge) – 17th March 2014

Coventry earned their first victory of the 2014 season with a solid 17 point victory over local rivals Birmingham in the second of their pre-season challenge fixtures, the first leg of a double header against the Monarchs.

The home side made a shaky start in the opening couple of heats as they trailed by two points. However a maximum 7-3 heat advantage in heat 3 swung things back in favour of the Devlins Newsagents sponsored side. Dominik Rycherski and Mason Phillips paired up for yet another 7-3 in heat 4 as Coventry found themselves leading 31-29 after heat 6.

Coventry added a further then points to their already handy advantage by half time with Birmingham, spearheaded by Mark Winwood, showed some fight towards the end of the meeting. However four 7-3’s in the concluding five heats put pay to any potential Birmingham win as the Devlins Newsagents ran out 98-81 winners.wins for Daniel Drewett and Dominik Rycherski included. Two shared heats followed until Birmingham earned their first race advantage in heat 12 since heat 6 as Mason Phillips was excluded – Paul Timms taking a nasty fall.

Coventry 98 – Daniel Drewett 15, Konrad Pietak 15, Dave Frith 14, Kyle Roberts 13, Mason Phillips 12, Dominik Rycherski 11, Jake Slatter 10, Josh Marsh 8.