Last night in an action-packed two hours of high drama at Smallbrook, and a match jammed full of great racing and a fair measure of controversy from start to finish, the injury-hit Wightlink Islanders overcame a 14 points deficit from the away leg to dump the Sheffield Tigers out of this year's Premier League KO Cup but boy did they have to battle!

Hereford-based Paul Fry was ruled out of the meeting after his horrendous crash at Berwick on Saturday had left him with two broken toes and other problems but that disappointing news for the Island fans was tempered by the return of popular Polish star Kryzsztof Stojanowski.

Many wondered though, prior to the start, as to whether he might be attempting a racing comeback a shade too soon after being sidelined with a painful shoulder injury, an injury that prevented him travelling north to both Berwick and Glasgow last weekend with the rest of the team.

But speedway riders are a tough breed (many would say a mad breed!) and once "Stoj" heard that his team mate "The Fryer" was ruled out, he simply said two words to the club's management, those words being, "I ride!"

And what a courageous performance he put in although it was clear for all to see that, brave as he was in scoring six points, he was clearly in pain throughout which accounted for him failing to score in his fourth and final ride in heat 13.

His bravery in insisting on riding in the match although clearly not fully fit embodied the absolute determination within the Wightlink Islanders camp to pull back those 14 points from 52-38 defeat they suffered in the first leg raced up in Yorkshire at the end of last month and to clinch a home and away clash with Workington in the next round.

With Glen Phillips, the most improved rider in the team so far this year, flying Aussie Cory Gathercole and skipper Jason Bunyan chalking up race wins on a regular basis, and "Stoj" plus reserves James Holder and Andrew Bargh chipping in with vital points too, the Islanders led 48-32, and thus by two on aggregate, with just two races left in the tie.

But things looked a shade ominous for them, because of Fry not being present, they could only track the reserve pairing of Bargh and Holder in heat 14 and when Sheffield's team manager Eric Boocock, the former international star, opted to bring in his skipper Andre Compton as a tactical substitute off a 15 metre handicap to replace the out-of-touch Lee Smethills, Sheffield were still very much in the tie.

By going off that 15 metre handicap, all Compton had to do was to finish ahead of one or both of the home riders and any points he scored - 1 for third, 2 for second or 3 for the win, would be doubled.

At the first time of asking he tried to 'jump' the start but referee Jim Lawrence from Leicester stopped the race and ordered a second attempt and that saw Holder, who was in pain from a hand injury sustained earlier, and Bargh race into first and second spots and now all eyes were on Compton. He stormed past his team mate Paul Cooper and then set his sights on Bargh but, inexplicably on the final lap going into the last lap he clattered into the Islanders young New Zealander sending him sprawling and sending the home fans into uproar!

But they needn't have worried for referee Lawrence had stopped the race immediately and you could surely have heard the cheers in Lymington and Cowes, let alone Ryde when it was announced that Compton had been excluded, the race awarded as a 5-1 win to the Wightlink Islanders and that they were through to the next round of the KO Cup!

Just as well really for in the now academic final race, after both Jason Bunyan and then Glen Phillips had charged into the tapes trying to get good starts, Sheffield took a consolation maximum heat win but it was too little too late and the battled scarred Wightlink Islanders forgot their respective injuries and partied with their fans and with match sponsors Sydenhams, the timber and building suppliers of Ryde and Newport.

A nigh on breathless Wightlink Islanders team manager Martin Newnham summed the night's events up succinctly by saying, "that was dramatic, that was brave, that was brilliant and make no mistake, the Isle of Wight are up for the cup!"

MATCH DETAILS:

Wightlink Islanders 54 Sheffield 38
(Premier League KO Cup 1st Rnd, 2nd leg)

Wightlink Islanders scorers: Kryzsztof Stojanowski 6, Cory Gathercole 11+3, Glen Phillips 11, Jason Bunyan 11+1, Andrew Bargh 6+1, James Holder 9+1.

Sheffield: Ricky Ashworth 8, Joel Parsons 2+2, Andre Compton 7+1, Lee Smethills 1, Ben Wilson 14, Sam Martin 1, Paul Copper 5+1.

A WEEK TO GET FIT!

With no away matches between now and next Tuesday, the battered and bruised Wightlink Islanders have a full week to get fit for their next match - at home in the League against the Redcar Bears starting, as usual at 7.30 p.m.