Devils end league campaign on a high

Plymouth Skills Group Devils 59 Sheffield Window Centre Tigres 37

Plymouth pulled three points clear of the bottom four as they finished their Premier League programme in ninth place following their 59-37 win over Sheffield at the St Boniface Arena on Friday evening, writes Graham Hambly.

Team manager Lee Trigger said: “It was another good team performance to round off our league fixtures and to finish ninth in the table is a couple of positions better than last season.

“We have now taken the maximum three points from each of our last nine matches at the St Boniface Arena, which shows that we have turned things around as far as our home form is concerned.”

Acting skipper Kyle Newman produced excellent performance with a five-ride paid maximum for the Skills Group Devils while reserve Sam Simota was unbeaten in his first five outings before being excluded following a fall while challenging Ben Wilson in heat 14.

Plymouth operated rider replacement to cover the absence of Rasmus Jensen, who suffered a knee injury in the previous evening’s meeting at Sheffield while Peterborough’s Ulrich Ostergaard proved to be a sound guest for the injured Ben Barker.

Injuries left Sheffield with only Simon Stead, Nico Covatti and Wilson of their regular team.

Todd Kurtz, Tyler Govier and Sam Chapman deputised for Leigh Lanham, Taylor Poole and Josh Bates while the Tigers operated rider replacement for Andre Compton.

Plymouth: Ulrich Ostergaard 7+2 (4 rides), Kyle Newman 13+2 (5), James Wright 11+1 (5), rider replacement for Rasmus Jensen, Josef Franc 12 (6). Reserves: Roland Benko 5+1 (4), Sam Simota 11+4 (6).

Sheffield: Simon Stead 11 (4), rider replacement for Andre Compton, Todd Kurtz 12 (6), Tyler Govier 1 (5), Nico Covatti 1 (3). Reserves: Ben Wilson 10+1 (7), Sam Chapman 2 (5).

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