EDINBURGH held on to seal their place in the next round of the KO Cup against Glasgow – despite a maximum for Tigers star Broc Nicol.
The Tigers faced having to overturn a 16-point deficit at Ashfield on Saturday following Friday’s first leg at Armadale.
They had pulled it to within just six points after eight races as the momentum began to build behind Cami Brown’s men.
But despite two further 5-1s and Nicol sealing a paid four-ride maximum, a third engine failure for Craig Cook in heat 10 ultimately proved too costly and they missed out by just two points on aggregate – with a 52-38 win on the night.
Brown admitted his side left themselves with too much to do after Friday but bemoaned their “bad luck”.
He said: “I’m not going to make any excuses. I thought the team really tried from beginning to end, but we had no luck whatsoever.
“Craig had three engine failures in his first three heats – and you saw on his second bike he wins his last two heats. But we didn’t have the leeway [in the scoreline].
“Broc got his first maximum for Glasgow – he was wonderful.
“Danyon Hume had two brilliant wins. He had an unlucky loss in his third race and I couldn’t take him out of his fourth ride, he deserved his chance.
“Tom Brennan held the team together when Craig was struggling and I thought Ulrich Ostergaard was a bit improved tonight. Ben Basso also came up with a big win in heat 14 and Connor Bailey did well, so there are some positives.”
Next up is a trip to Scunthorpe on Friday followed by a visit from the Scorpions on Sunday – both matches in the SGB Championship.
Brown added: “Friday is a massive match at Scunthorpe now – we’ve got to go down there and get something.”