Speedway: Owlerton return sees Sheffield Tigers team mates step in for Tai Woffinden to beat Wolves

Sheffield notched their first victory since Tai Woffinden's Cardiff injury , with a return to Owlerton seeing them beat Wolves.

After Tigers had gone down to a heavy defeat at Peterborough on Monday, the Sheffield riders thrived back on home shale tonight to see off Wolverhampton 54-36.

But the bonus point for the aggregate score went to Wolves after a bizarre heat 15, which Tigers had needed to draw 3-3 to win the bonus point themselves.

With the heat underway, Wolves' Ryan Douglas appeared to be set to retire from the race with mechanical problems, with Tigers on for a 3-3 at that point. But top scorer Tobiasz Musielak crashed out of the race on the third lap, and was excluded from a re-run which saw Douglas and Luke Becker win the heat 5-1 ahead of Josh Pickering.

Happily, Musielak was soon back on his feet, and the message from the club this evening was that he was shaken but not injured

With Tigers operating rider replacement to cover injured Woffinden's rides, being back on home shale seemed to make a huge difference compared to Monday. Musielak, Pickering, and Chris Holder all scored double figures on the night, and stand-in reserve Jye Etheridge contributed important points, as did rising star Jason Edwards.

The most exciting heat of the night came in heat 11. Halfway through lap one, the Tigers pair of Musielak and Etheridge were at the back. Musielak soon battled his way to the front ahead of Steve Worrall, then Etheridge passed Sam Masters almost on the finish line to secure a 4-2 heat advantage.

Heat 14 produced similar excitement, with Pickering and Etheridge battllng from the back to claim a 5-1 heat advantage..

The result means Sheffield finish third in the Sports Insure Premiership table, and will face second placed Wolverhampton in their play-off semifinal..

Leicester's 58-32 defeat at Peterborough means Ipswich will face Belle Vue in the other semifinal.

Sheffield 54: Tobiasz Musielak 14, Josh Pickering 12+3, Chris Holder 12+1, Jye Etheridge 7+1, Kyle Howarth 6, Jason Edwards 3+2, Tai Woffinden r/r.

Wolverhampton 36: Ryan Douglas 9+1, Luke Becker 7, Rory Schlein 7, Leon Flint 5+1, Sam Masters 4+1, Steve Worrall 4, Luke Killeen 0.

Wolverhampton win the aggregate point