TEAM boss Cami Brown praised his powerhouse top two after a tough night at Edinburgh.
The Allied Vehicles Tigers went down by 49-41 to the Monarchs in the MAXiCab KO Cup quarter-final, first leg at Armadale on Friday night.
It was the first away defeat of the campaign for the club and leaves the tie finely poised.
However, the second leg at Ashfield – scheduled for Saturday afternoon – has been postponed due to a poor forecast.
Brown was delighted with Chris Harris and Kyle Howarth pulling off a vital last heat 5-1 to keep the Tigers close in the final outcome.
He said: “We had a lot of problems tonight. Everyone tried hard. But I’m obviously disappointed with the defeat.
“I knew it would be tough tonight. Victor Palovaara at reserve is ridiculous, let’s be honest. He’s not a reserve, he’s miles better than that.
“It’s hard when you’ve got two young reserves up against him. But he’s beating heat leaders as well and has been excellent this season.
“It’s a big ask. But with no tacticals, a quick start at home and I’m positive we can turn it around.
“Chris and Kyle have given us a big hope to comeback in the second leg.
“They were both excellent all night. Chris was absolutely exceptional. It was vintage Bomber as he produced several incredible passes.
“We did really miss the scoring power of Dan Thompson. Drew Kemp came in and did a decent job and Leon Flint had two cracking rides. Leon came up with a big Heat 14 win for us.
“But we never managed to recover from the early deficit of 10 points and the Monarchs rode really well.
“I have to give special mention to Freddy Hodder who rode his heart out for five points. They could be very important when we race the second leg at Ashfield. Max was trying 100 per cent as well, I’m pleased with them both.”
The home side swiftly moved into a 10-point lead after four heats. But Harris, Howarth and Flint produced eight of the next 11 race winners.
But Harris was the man of the meeting, delivering several fantastic rides from the back. The pick of the bunch was a last to first in Heat 13.
Now the next fixtures for the Tigers are at Oxford on Wednesday (June 4) before facing reigning league champions Poole at Ashfield next Friday (June 6).