Belle Vue 44 Peterborough 46PETERBOROUGH Panthers fought back from eight points down to record their first away win of the season and move up to third in the Elite League table.

Belle Vue 44 Peterborough 46

PETERBOROUGH Panthers fought back from eight points down to record their first away win of the season and move up to third in the Elite League table.

It was the Panthers turn this time to come back from a mid match deficit and it was no more than they deserved as they encountered some dreadful luck in the opening few heats with retirements and falls costing them several points with riders well placed at the time.

Kenneth Bjerre only managed to make the first corner in heat one before his bike gave up the ghost, whilst disputing the lead with Belle Vue's ace in the pack Morten Risager.

Mads Korneliussen retired whilst second to Karol Zabik in heat three, with the Panthers having to settle for a shared heat with Zabik racing to a good win on only his second ever visit to Kirkmanshulme Lane.

Nevertheless the Panthers levelled the match with a 4-2 of their own in heat four, whilst the following two heats were shared.

Claus Vissing can count himself very unlucky to be excluded in six as he fell whilst under pressure from Risager when first bend bunching and all four back would have been the fairer decision.

Falls by Korneliussen in seven whilst leading, and Bager in eight, cost the Panthers further, with the Aces taking maximum points from both heats to open up an eight point lead, which rather flattered them at this stage.

Iversen won the ninth despite pressure from Wright and the Panthers fightback started in 10 with Korneliussen surprisingly winning and Zabik keeping the Aces No.1 Kasprzak at the rear.

Heat 11 started with Bjerre and Bager trapping to lead; only to be pulled up by the referee when Gjedde fell whilst at the back, and despite Panthers protests he decided on a rerun.

However the Panthers pair shot away again with Risager unable to make any impression and the Panthers first maximum of the match reduced the deficit to just two.

Korneliussen won heat 12 to ensure another 3-3, which set up an interesting heat 13 with the Panthers pair of Iversen and Bjerre up against their opposite no's both of which were having nightmares.

Bjerre and Iversen both made excellent starts to ensure Panthers took the lead for the first time in the match and the home warning bells started to ring.

Heat 14 was clearly very important now with the match finely balanced, Ace reserve Risager again took the lead but Zabik and Hansen ensured Wright was always at the back with some intelligent team riding.

Belle Vue won the toss for the all important and match deciding heat 15 and surprised everyone including their own fans by choosing gates 2+4.

Gate four had been a nightmare all night and the situation didn't improve for Kasprzak as he quickly found himself at the rear, Risager led the Panthers duo of Iversen and Bjerre who ensured their was no way past for the Belle Vue No.1 Kasprzak and the match points came back to Peterborough.

This was Peterborough's first win on the road in 2009 and went some considerable way in making amends for the earlier ones that had got away.

It was a good team effort with everyone pitching in at some point and the team were well anchored by the big guns of captain Niels Kristian Iversen and No.1 Kenneth Bjerre.

They supplied the majority of the heat winners and were worthy winners on the night and the result lifts Panthers to third in the EL table.