KING'S Lynn's excellent Premiership KO Cup run came to an end at the last hurdle as Leicester secured the silverware on a bruising night in the East Midlands on Thursday.
The PSH Environmental Stars were beaten 60-30 in the second leg of the Final at the Hydroscand Arena, Beaumont Park, meaning they went down by 30 points on aggregate.
The bare numbers, however, do not tell the story of a meeting which saw no fewer than five Stars riders suffer crashes on the night, and some key decisions going against them.
Ultimately those incidents were not the deciding factors in the tie, as Leicester were worthy winners over two legs, but it did sum up a season where Lynn have again been low on fortune.
Following a draw in the first leg, a win on the night was required, and that was always going to be a tough ask against a Lions team who have been strong on their own track this summer.
But despite the setback of conceding a 5-1 in Heat 1 when Niels-Kristian Iversen was moved wide by Max Fricke on turn two, Stars did settle into the meeting thanks to two early wins for skipper Nicolai Klindt.
The Dane won Heats 2 and 4, the latter impressively over Sam Masters, and with Chris Harris moving inside Kyle Howarth to split the home pair in Heat 3, the score after four races was a manageable 14-10.
However, things began to go awry in the next two races, firstly when Iversen crashed on the third bend in Heat 5 with the Lions being awarded a 4-2, and then when Klindt was left with no room on turn two in Heat 6 due to a forceful move by Fricke. Klindt hit the fence hard and whilst he was thankfully uninjured, Stars were understandably upset when he was ruled the cause of the incident and was disqualified.
Fricke and guest Tom Brennan reeled off a 5-1 in the re-run and Masters passed Harris in the next to put Leicester 27-15 up.
The home side did see a rider disqualified from Heat 8 when Joe Thompson brought down Luke Harrison, and that was part of a run of three shared races.
But there was more trouble for Lynn in Heat 9 with a heavy crash for Jan Kvech who came to grief heading into turn three as he and Klindt were battling with Ryan Douglas and Howarth, and the Czech racer took a heavy knock.
With Kvech disqualified, Klindt rode solo in the re-run and won it, and Harris achieved the notable feat of a win over Fricke in Heat 10 as the Stars looked to keep their heads above water.
But the Final was then completely taken away from them, firstly with a surprise Leicester 5-1 in Heat 11 as Masters and Drew Kemp "" who had been scoreless in the first leg "" combined for a maximum over Richard Lawson and Iversen.
And their night was summed up by another contentious moment in Heat 12 when Harris dived hard inside Douglas in Heat 12 with contact bringing both riders down, and although Stars felt the Australian had turned back into Harris's path, it was the visiting rider who was disqualified.
Leicester then only needed their riders to finish the re-run in order to secure the Cup, and they did so with Douglas defeating Klindt for a 4-2 with Thompson third.
The final three races were largely irrelevant in the context of a Final which was already over, and the Lions made hay against their bruised opponents as they reeled off three 5-1s to hit the 60-point mark on the night.
Stars manager Rob Lyon said: "It was a tough night, with two decisions which weren't debateable, they were clear-cut.
"I don't think it would have made a huge difference to the scoreline to be honest, but it does take the wind out of your sails when you're thinking you can keep it tight and move on to the next heat.
"So we were disappointed with those decisions, but overall Leicester were the better team over the two legs, and we take nothing away from them, they rode well and deserved it.
"I've said to the guys they need to be proud of what they've achieved in terms of getting here. I know we haven't performed that well tonight for various reasons, but to get to a Cup Final is an achievement in itself.
"Sometimes it's worse when you lose like that in a Final but we couldn't do anything about it, Leicester were the far better team on the night."
Stars now return to ROWE Motor Oil Premiership league action and their next opponents are very familiar "" because it will be Leicester back at the Adrian Flux Arena on Monday.
PREMIERSHIP KO CUP FINAL, 2nd leg LEICESTER 60: Ryan Douglas 14, Sam Masters 12+2, Max Fricke 10+1, Tom Brennan 9+2, Drew Kemp 8+1, Kyle Howarth 5+2, Joe Thompson 2+1. KING'S LYNN 30: Nicolai Klindt 11, Chris Harris 7, Richard Lawson 6+1, Jan Kvech 2, Luke Harrison 2, Niels-Kristian Iversen 1, Scott Nicholls 1. Leicester win 105-75 on aggregate
