An emotional Tony Jackson heaped praise on his Workington Comets team after they battled back in a classic SGB Championship play-off semi-final to move a step closer to the club’s first ever league title.

Comets trailed Glasgow by 13 points after the first leg at Ashfield on Sunday afternoon, but they turned on the style at Derwent Park that night and got the points they needed in nail-biting fashion, with Mason Campton the star as he scored 26 points from 14 rides across the two meetings.

Workington looked to have done the hard work in the second leg when they led Glasgow by 20 points after 10 heats to go seven points up on aggregate, only for the Tigers to come out fighting and set up a last heat decider with three 4-2s and a 3-3 as Campton was forced to ride alone in the penultimate heat when Rasmus Jensen clattered into the fence hard.

Nicolai Klindt and Ty Proctor stayed cool under incredible pressure to follow Tigers guest Ricky Wells over the finish line in the final race and seal victory for Workington by one point on aggregate.

“For a team a lot of people derided at the start of the season, we’ve accidentally been lucky enough to qualify for three finals,” the Comets team manager said.

“It was a great fightback and I can’t believe we’re in the final.

“We got those two 5-1s in heats nine and 10 and after that we looked like going through, then we didn’t, then we did.

“The first leg was a problem because in each of the first three races we only had one finisher and we continued to throw so many points away.

“That actually gave me confidence because I knew we were better than that.

“Two matches in a day is tough for everyone.

“Anything can happen and it did over the two legs.

“Fair play to the lads because the spirit they showed despite everything was tremendous.”

Glasgow manager Cami Brown, who labelled Comets the strongest team in the league before the semi-final, admitted the exit had left his team distraught.

He said: “We tried really hard right to the last race, but we're absolutely gutted as a club and as a management.

“To lose by a single point is hard at the best of times, but in a league play-off semi-final it's hard to take.

“We're all pretty low at the moment.

“The club deserves some success and we were one point away from making the final - and a final we thought was very winnable.”

Comets now face a hectic weekend of four meetings in three days as they visit Lakeside in the Championship Shield final first leg on Friday night, then host the Hammers for the return the following day in a double header with an outstanding league fixture against the same side.

They then travel to Scunthorpe on Sunday for the Knockout Cup final first leg.

Jackson added: “We’ve got heart in this team and we need as much support as we can get because it does give you a better chance of winning.”