MATCH REPORT: Too little, too late for Coventry

Leicester 92 – 86 Coventry, Midland League 1, Sunday 18th May 2014

Recent matches between the these two clubs have all been close, keenly contested affairs, and this one, in front of a crowd approaching the three figure mark, was no exception.

Leicester opened up a eight point lead by the fifth but a tapes exclusion for Liam Wood gave the visitors their first heat advantage, Skinner splitting the Drewitt/Williams pair. The home side hit straight back though and went into the interval nine points to the good.

The lead was extended to fifteen by the thirteenth but Coventry staged a mini revival in the last two heats, Nick Whitehead moving at the start in the penultimate and star man Marchant losing out to Grimes in the final heat, allowing the gap to be closed to six points.

Both sets of riders know each other well as several of them train at each others track, there is good banter between them but that friendliness doesn’t migrate to the track. It’s fair to say that the racing was hard throughout with plenty of falls and incidents.

And spare a thought for Myke Grimes, he suffered more mechanical problems in one afternoon than many would in a year. Keep smiling Myke it can’t get any worse!

Leicester 92 (Craig Marchant 19, Kev Burns 18+1, Mick Skinner 15, Michelle Whitehead 12+1, Nick Whitehead 10, Liam Wood 8, Lucy Whitehead 7, Ash Doughty 3)

Coventry 86 (Dan Drewitt 14, Myke Grimes 13, Kyle Roberts 13+1, Konrad Pietek 13, Tom Sensicall 10+2, Matt Lawrence 12+1, Joe Mclaughlan 7)

Report by Leicester