Furious Swales fires volley at some of his riders

TEAM boss Trevor Swales delivered a damning verdict on Peterborough’s Elite League Play-off collapse – and issued an apology to the club’s fans.

The Readypower Panthers went down to a big 82-101 semi final aggregate defeat, as they lost 44-49 in the second leg in front of their own fans.

Coventry, who were bottom of the league after starting their season with seven straight defeats, are now within sight of the most amazing comeback in speedway history and will meet table-toppers Poole in the Grand Final.

Swales paid tribute to the battling Bees: “To be honest, we were just beaten by the better side. Coventry were the better team over both legs and we just weren’t good enough.

“I feel sorry for our fans, because they have stuck by us all season and we have just thrown it away. I feel for the fans, I feel for owners Rick and Julie, I feel for the staff here, everyone because we have thrown away a whole season’s worth of effort.

“I’m disappointed in the boys, because some of them didn’t have the will. I don’t care what they say about the track, you have to get on and ride it.

“They had the wrong attitude; and they beat themselves at five o’clock, when they saw the track. The Coventry boys looked at it and were up for it, our lads weren’t. That’s not good enough.”

Number one Kenneth Bjerre, who has led from the front all season, had a disastrous night and even saw his track record fall to visiting Krzysztof Kasprzak in the opening heat and it was 2010 new boys Krzysztof Buczkowski and Norbert Kosciuch, both of whom started their Peterborough careers at reserve, who were the two top scorers.

PETERBOROUGH 44 (Krzysztof Buczkowski 14:1, Norbert Kosciuch 9:2, Niels-Kristian Iversen 9, Troy Batchelor 8, Rory Schlein 3, Kenneth Bjerre 1:1, Mathieu Tresarrieu 0).

COVENTRY 49 (Chris Harris 13, Richard Sweetman 7, Ben Barker 7:1, Krzysztof Kasprzak 6:2, Edward Kennett 6:2, (2-0-0-3), Przemyslaw Pawlicki 5:2, Lewis Bridger 5.