By Dorset Echo

Weymouth came close to pulling off a shock before going down by seven points on aggregate in the Conference Knock-Out Cup quarter-final at Plymouth last night. The Doonans Wildcats were defending a slender two-point lead from the first leg at the Wessex Stadium on June 21. So it was an impressive performance that saw Weymouth take the Devils to a last-heat decider in the return at the St Boniface Arena.

Wildcats' team manager Jem Dicken admitted: "We lost the tie in our home leg with the bad weather. The rain cost us our home advantage. We were leading by 12 points at one stage and it would have been different in the second leg if we could have held on to that kind of lead."

The home pairing of Nicki Glanz and Tom Brown figured prominently for Plymouth in the early stages last night, collecting maximum 5-1 heat wins in their three outings together. That helped the Devils to open a ten-point lead on the night by the end of heat nine. Weymouth hit back in heat 10, however, with the successful inclusion of Andrew Bargh on a tactical ride. He stormed into the lead, ahead of Brown with Wildcats' skipper Luke Priest holding third place from Jamie White-Williams. Brown made a desperate effort to overhaul Bargh on the third bend of the final lap and came to grief, gifting Weymouth an 8-1 which cut their deficit to three points on the night - and one overall. Plymouth gained a vital advantage in heat 12, however. Brown led from Tim Webster and Priest with Paul Starke trailing at the back, but the home reserve put up a determined effort which saw him overhaul Priest and Webster to give the Devils a 5-1.

Dicken said: "The 8-1 in heat 10 could have been a turning point for us. But we gave away some silly points and Paul Starke came good for them when it mattered."

Even so, Weymouth kept their hopes alive at the start of heat 14. They went into the race with an aggregate deficit of five points and Bargh and Webster gated ahead of Glanz and Starke. But they were unable to deny Glanz, who went on to collect a win which effectively wrapped up an aggregate win for his side. Weymouth were left needing an unlikely 5-0 from the final race to force a replay and Glanz ended any such thoughts with his fifth win from six races.

Dicken added: "Full marks to Andrew Bargh and Tim Webster, but we did not have enough heat winners. The boys are dejected at the moment, but we have to look to get our revenge over Plymouth in the league. We look forward to coming back to Plymouth later in the season. We have been getting better each time we come here. We got over 40 points this time and will look at scoring at least 45 next time."

The Wildcats face the Devils again tonight, this time in a Conference League clash at the Wessex Stadium, (7.15pm).