Mdl --le 17 Scunthorpe 19 Sat May 21st

[Main Man 222]

Saturday 21st May – Beaumont Park Leicester

Long Eaton Invaders
1. Bradley Andrews 2 3 ef = 5
2. Craig Osborne ef 0 2 = 2
3. Kyle Roberts 3 2 2 = 7
4. Stephen Whitehouse 1 1* 1* = 3+2

Scunthorpe Stags
1. Jack Parkinson – Blackburn 3 3 3 = 9
2. Lloyd Ditchburn 1 0 0 = 1
3. Luke Whitehead 2 2 1 = 5
4. Sam Chapman 0 1* 3 = 4+1

ht1 Parkinson-Blackburn, Andrews, Ditchburn, (Osbourne ret) 2-4 / 2-4 67.93
ht2 Roberts, Whitehead, Whitehouse, Chapman 4-4 / 6-6 73.12
ht3 Andrews, Whitehead, Chapman, Osborne 3-3 / 9-9 74.93
ht4 Parkinson-Blackburn, Roberts, Whitehouse, Ditchburn 3-3 / 12-12 67.50
ht5 Chapman, Osborne, Whitehouse, Ditchburn 3-3 / 15-15 76.00
ht6 Parkinson-Blackburn, Roberts, Whitehead, (Andrews ret) 2-4 / 17-19 67.44

A narrow defeat for the Invaders in a hard-fought contest. Both teams deserve great credit for racing in difficult conditions after an evening of persistent light rain. The two sides were fairly evenly matched as the scoreline suggests, but Scunthorpe had the edge in the shape of Birmingham Brummies' young NL starlet Jack Parkinson-Blackburn, who cruised to a 9-point maximum with winning times just 2 or 3 seconds behind those of the preceding Elite League match. The points had looked set to be shared until Bradley Andrews encountered some mechanical gremlins in the final heat, which allowed Luke Whitehead to take a comfortable third place and seal the Stags' victory. Well done to the Stags, commiserations to the Invaders. These two sides will meet again at the same venue on May 28th.