TEAM boss Cami Brown admits his side have a “mountain to climb” after a heavy defeat at Edinburgh.
The Allied Vehicles Tigers were beaten 52-38 in the Cab Direct Championship play-off semi-final, first leg at Armadale.
In difficult wet conditions, Brown’s side were comfortably outgunned by their Scottish rivals.
He said: “It’s always tough coming to Armadale, they are a good team on their home track.
“The weather made conditions tricky, it was very wet and cold and our boys just couldn’t get out of the starts.
“Trying to pass in those conditions is almost impossible and it was an uphill struggle all night.
“Plus we were missing three riders which always makes life so hard. It’s frustrating because we’ve been good here all season before tonight.
“It’s clear to see how much we missed Dan Thompson especially who has been outstanding at Armadale all season.
“But the boys did very well to fightback in the latter stages and reduce the deficit. Kyle Howarth and Freddy Hodder battled so hard while Dayle Wood and Leon Flint also worked for every point. It just was a very rare off night for Chris Harris.
“We’ve beaten Edinburgh with 53 and 58 points on the last two occasions at Ashfield. We’ll need to do it again and I feel we can do that.
“The boys gave it everything but now we know we have a mountain to climb for the second leg at Ashfield in a fortnight. We will fight for every point to get to the final.”
CAB DIRECT CHAMPIONSHIP SEMI-FINAL, 1st leg
EDINBURGH 52: Paco Castagna 10, Justin Sedgmen 9+3, Victor Palovaara 9+1, Michael Palm Toft 9, Jonatan Grahn 8+1, Kye Thomson 6+1, Jordy Loftus 1.
GLASGOW 38: Kyle Howarth 13, Leon Flint 7, Freddy Hodder 4+2, Chris Harris 4+2, Simon Lambert 4, Dayle Wood 3, Nicolai Klindt 3.