Workington Comets team manager Tony Jackson praised his side after in-form Peterborough Panthers were held at bay in a Premier League thriller.

The Comets grabbed a 4-2 in the last race to win 47-43 after it seemed as though the Panthers would steal victory at the death, with their big two of Craig Cook and Ulrich Ostergaard.

“Full marks to the boys tonight for seeing it through in what was an exciting meeting,” said Jackson. “We had to find a replacement for Adam Roynon at reserve when his girlfriend gave birth to a baby earlier in the day.

“We brought in a young local lad Ryan Blacklock as a guest. He rides for Buxton in the National League, so this was all very good experience for him.

“We had built a nice lead of 10 points before they started to pull back and heat 14 certainly wasn’t on our radar.

“When you look through the races to see where you’re going to earn points, we had this one down as a 4-2 to us, or at worst a 3-3.

“But they gated really well and the 5-1 for Peterborough brought them to within two points which put a lot of pressure on Ricky and Kenneth in the final heat.

“Fortunately, Ricky got a great start and although he doesn’t normally ride wide he did on this occasion to hold-off Cookie and he went on to win really well.

“That would have been good enough to win the meeting but as an added bonus Kenneth got third for a 4-2,” added Jackson.

Jackson and the rest of the Comets management were particularly pleased that it had been such a good meeting – because some supporters were watching the sport for the first time.

“We did a lot of publicity work at Cockermouth Show on Saturday, so we are hoping all those who saw speedway the first time will have enjoyed it and want to come back,” said Jackson.

But they will have to wait until Saturday when the Comets are at home to Newcastle Diamonds as they start a busy little spell of meetings.

“We have been fairly quiet recently but we are about to embark on a four-week period when we race nine matches. They are going to determine how we fare in the race for a play-off place,” said Jackson.