Another rousing fightback earns Panthers a point

Decent point

Panthersassistantteammanager Carl Johnsonadmitteda decent point could have been a terrific victory last Sunday night.

The city men clawed their waybackfroma10-point deficit to pile the pressure on a Workington side yet to be beaten on their home shale this season.

They went into a last-heat deciderjusttwopointsadrift, but previously unbeaten number one Craig Cook and skipper Ulrich Ostergaard couldn’t provide the advantage required to earn a draw or victory.

Johnson said: “It was another good performance and result on the road against a team who are very strong on their own track.

“We could, and probably should, have got more than oneleaguepoint, butwewere carrying a couple of passengers andthat’s not something we can afford to do.”

Reserve Zdenek Holub and second string Tom Perry both drew blanks, but Panthers did have good performances in other areas on a night when World Cup hero Cook spearheaded their charge just 24 hours after helping Great Britain to silver medals.

Cook reeled off four successive victories back at his local, and first, club before seeing his maximum hopes ended by Workington number one Ricky Wells in the finale.

Cook’s 14-point haul was wellbackedupbyskipperOstergaard as he accumulated 11 points before bringing up the rear in the last race.

AshMorris, EmilGrondal andNikolajBuskJakobsenall claimed a race win apiece although the latter’s six points was slightly less than Panthers really require fromhim withtheirline-upnowsoreliant on top-end power.

In fact Busk Jakobsen’s success in a shared ninth heat was clearly unexpected by the club’s management as they chose not to deploy him onatactical ride eventhough they were 10 points down at the time.

Theyalsosnubbedtheopportunity to give it to captain Ostergaard in the following race when his success inspired a 4-2 to launch their fightback.

It meant they were then unable to send out Cook for double-points in heat 11, but they battled back into contention anywaytoedgeastep closer to securing a play-off berth.