The Kent SLYDE Kings marched into the Quarter Finals of the Knock Out Cup by defeating the Stoke Potters over the two legs.
The Kings not only defended their first leg lead but won the second leg at Loomer Road 51-37 last night (14/7) to give them a 36 point victory on aggregate 107-71. Kent now move on to face Plymouth in the Quarter Finals, with the first leg taking place at the St. Boniface Arena this coming Friday (20/7).
The Kings were dominant throughout the meeting leading 12-6 after the first three heats and from there it was really only a matter of when and not if they would reach the target needed to seal the aggregate victory. The answer being it was sealed after heat 10 as the Kings took a 35-24 interval lead, which saw the scores move to 91-58 on aggregate with Stoke reduced to just 4 riders after falls saw Adam Extance, Joe Alcock and Luke Whitehead all withdraw from the meeting, with all now a doubt for the League clash on Monday.
From then on it was just about wrapping up the formalities for the Kent side in the last 5 heats, in a performance that saw solid scoring nearly all the way down the scorechart and covering well for the absent Jack Thomas. Luke Bowen was as reliable as ever top scoring with 11+1 there were double figure contributions from Anders Rowe, Taylor Hampshire, Nathan Stoneman and Alex Spooner.
There is a quick turn around for both sides as they are due to face each other again on Monday (16/7) at Central Park (6:30 start time) this time points are at stake in the Travel Plus Tours National League as both sides seek to better their respective positions.
Stoke
M Clegg 2 3 3 2’ 3 13+1
P Burnett 0 1 2 R 3
T Atkin 3 2 2 2 9
A Extance 0 F withdrawn 0
R Shuttleworth 3 2 1 3 2’ 11+1
J Alcock F R (withdrawn) 0
L Whitehead 1 0 FX 1
Kent
L Bowen 3 3 3 2’ R 11+1
T Hampshire 1 1’ 1 3 3 1 10+1
A Rowe 2 1 1’ 3 3 0 10+1
R/R
N Stoneman 2 2 3 2 1 10
W O’Keefe 2’ FX FX X2M 2+1
A Spooner 3 1’ 1 1 2’ 8+2
HT
1: Bowen, Clegg, Hampshire, Burnett (2-4) (36-60)
2: Spooner, O’Keefe, Whitehead, Alcock (3-9) (37-65)
3: Atkin, Rowe, Hampshire, Extance (6-12) (40-68)
4: Shuttleworth, Stoneman, Spooner, Whitehead (9-15) (43-71)
5: Bowen, Atkin, Hampshire, Extance (fell) (11-19) (45-75)
6: Clegg, Stoneman, Burnett, O’Keefe (FX) (15-21) (49-77)
7: Bowen, Shuttleworth, Rowe, Alcock (ret) (17-25) (51-81)
8: Hampshire, Burnett, Spooner, Whitehead (FX) (19-29) (53-85)
9: Stoneman, Atkin, O’Keefe (FX) 3 riders only (21-32) (55-88)
10: Clegg, Stoneman, Rowe, Burnett (ret) (24-35) (58-91)
11: Hampshire, Bowen, Shuttleworth 3 riders only (25-40) (59-96)
12: Rowe, Atkin, Spooner, O’Keefe (X2M) 3 riders only (27-44) (61-100)
13: Shuttleworth, Clegg, Stoneman, Bowen (ret) (32-45) (66-101)
14: Rowe, Spooner 2 riders only (32-50) (66-106)
15: Clegg, Shuttleworth, Hampshire, Rowe (37-51) (71-107)