Belle Vue's 50-40 home win over Coventry saw them climb back above the city side who will now travel to Wolverhampton next Tuesday before hosting the league's basement side in the second leg at the Showground two days later.

And Bratley is happy that Panthers fans still have some exciting racing to watch. He said: "Going into the relegation play-offs holds no fears and, if anything, it's a bit of a bonus for our fans that they can see some more racing.

"Some of our lads, like Danny King and Henning Bager, have not raced for a bit but the rest of the team have had races abroad. But I'll be having a word with officials at the Showground today to see if we can practice there next Monday."

Panthers have picked up in recent weeks but not sufficiently to avoid the play-offs, although Bratley insists things will be better next year. He added: "We will definitely be up at the other end of the table next year."

Panthers needed Coventry to avoid defeat last night to keep the city side out of the bottom two, but they weren't helped when their former skipper Hans Andersen crashed out of heat 11 and took no further part in the meeting.

The Dane had scored three points from his opening two rides but suffered a shoulder injury in the crash, for which he was excluded.

Elsewhere in the Elite League last night, Poole won 48-42 at Lakeside in the first leg of the Grand Final.