DUDLEY Heathens have a mountain to climb if they are to reach the Knockout Cup Final after going down by 30-points in Sunday’s first leg at Loomer Road.

Heathens were on the back foot right from the start of a meeting which was delayed by nearly two hours due to the non-arrival of the paramedic.

When the action got underway, Heathens were hit by four Stoke 5-1s in four races, with both Kyle Newman and Danny Stoneman suffering mechanical breakdowns.

When skipper Jon Armstrong went for double points in Heat 5, he beat Stoke’s Gareth Isherwood but the two Dudley riders finished in the wrong order with Richard Franklin second for a 4-3 rather than a 5-3.

Heathens had to wait until Heat 11 for their first race win of the meeting, Armstrong taking the flag although by that stage they were 29-points adrift.

Two more advantages followed for the Potters with James Sarjeant clearly out to impress against his former club as they went 57-22 up, and at that stage there looked no way back for the Heathens.

They did, though, give themselves a glimmer of hope in the last two races by taking five points off that deficit, first with a tactical ride win from Ashley Morris in Heat 14 who held off Sarjeant’s strong challenge.

And Heathens finished with a 4-2 from Newman and Morris, split by Simon Lambert, leaving them 62-32 down at the end of the first leg and with much work to do in Tuesday’s return fixture at Monmore Green.

STOKE 62: James Sarjeant 12+2, Simon Lambert 11+1, Tim Webster 11, Jaimie Pickard 9+1, Gareth Isherwood 8+1, Tony Atkin 7+2, Ben Reade 4+2.

DUDLEY 32: Ashley Morris 11, Kyle Newman 9, Jon Armstrong 6+1, Richard Franklin 3, Tom Perry 1, Darryl Ritchings 1, Danny Stoneman 1.