The pressure is on for Belle Vue after they slipped to a narrow 43-47 Premiership defeat to Wolverhampton

The pressure is on for Belle Vue after they slipped to a narrow 43-47 Premiership defeat to Wolverhampton in Manchester, after factors beyond their control wreaked havoc on their night.

The late withdrawal of Max Fricke following a nasty crash in the Grand Prix at weekend, in which he was the innocent victim, left the Rentruck Aces with no choice but to run rider replacement at No.1.

And they were a man down in Heat 4 after Kenneth Bjerre’s arrival at the stadium was delayed by two horrific accidents that closed the A1; the dynamic Dane having been stuck in traffic for 6 hours.

His appearance in Heat 7 was hailed by a thunderous cheer from the crowd, and he along with the remaining contingent battled ferociously to try and secure the points they so desperately needed.

Jaimon Lidsey was a very busy man and put in a stupendous performance, taking six of his maximum seven rides while former Ace Jye Etheridge did a fantastic job for the injured Nikolaj Busk Jakobsen.

Kenneth Bjerre said: “I got to the track just as Heat 6 started, so I literally got changed and jumped straight on the bike for my next heat and I got the win which was a good way to start off.

“It’s just a shame we lost on the night. We put everything we had out there. It’s more vital than ever now that we don’t drop points anywhere, and we need some other teams to drop points too.

“I don’t think we’ve seen that kind of performance from Wolverhampton around here before. They were very strong, and they just had the edge on us unfortunately so we’ve got to take it on the chin.

“The next two meetings against King’s Lynn are going to be really important for us. We need to channel our frustration into action and make uup for this with some big results against them.”