THE SOMERSET Rebels’ bid for a second successive Premier League Play-Off Final will go down to the last match of their semi-final group, after a 50-43 defeat to the Newcastle Diamonds.

The Rebels are away at Redcar on Thursday night (October 17) knowing any match points will secure a play-off final clash with Edinburgh.

Superbly led by skipper Jason Doyle, who scored an 18-point maximum for the Rebels, which included a six-point tactical ride win, the team went into the final race of the match needing a maximum 5-1 heat win to earn themselves that crucial group point that would have assured the Rebels of their place in the Championship-deciding Grand Final.

But although Doyle took his fifth race win of the night, team-mate Josh Grajczonek had to settle for third place behind Newcastle’s Anton Rosen to leave Somerset just short of picking up what would have been the all-important group point that would have seen them through to that Grand Final ahead of Thursday’s match to Redcar.

Team Manager Garry May said: “Obviously we would have loved to have wrapped things up here tonight at Newcastle, and although we came agonisingly close to doing so, it just wasn’t to be.

“Once again Doyley (Jason Doyle) was just superb and played a true captain’s role, but it does now mean that so long as we avoid a heavy defeat at to Redcar on Thursday, we should still qualify for the Grand Final.”

Scorers: Newcastle 50: Richie Worrall 6+2, rider replacement for Stuart Robson, Andrew Tully 3+1, Ludvig Lindgren 10, Anton Rosen 13+1, Chris Schramm 3+1, Lewis Kerr 15+1 Somerset 43: Jason Doyle 18, Kyle Newman 4+1, Alex Davies 2, Josh Grajczonek 9, Nick Morris 8, Charles Wright 2+1, Oliver Greenwood [g] 0