From the agony of a devastating defeat at Edinburgh to the ecstasy of a last-race winner against the Monarchs to reach the Knockout Cup final, Workington Comets boss Tony Jackson hailed his team’s incredible character.

A stunning turnaround at Derwent Park on Saturday saw Comets recover a 28-point deficit from Friday night’s first leg at Edinburgh to demolish the Monarchs and reach the cup final against the odds.

Workington have defied their critics again and again this season, and Jackson praised the team spirit in what is probably the finest side the club has ever had after a special night.

He said: “We’ve proved we’ve got the resilience to overcome all sorts of adversity.

“Like everyone, I was pretty dejected on Friday.

“I thought, if we kept it to 10 points, we had a chance but anything more than 12 or 14 we’d struggle.

“We had a good chat before the meeting on Saturday and we were determined to put on a show. I said to them if we hit them early and they didn’t like it, we could just keep powering away at them.

“By heat seven, we’d won every race and all by a different Comet. It was obviously too slick for Edinburgh and in the pits we were just rolling with it.

“Heat 15 the pressure when it was level was unbearable and, when Ricky Wells got himself excluded, the fans loved that."

Jackson said he had received messages from all over the country since the dramatic win but he hopes there will be more support from closer to home for the huge meetings in the coming weeks.

“A lot of fans stayed away,” he said. “They know now not to stay away again, whatever the score.

“The place was nuts but imagine if we’d had 700, 800 or more in the stands.

"Imagine if we win something and you don’t want to miss that because anybody who was there on Saturday will never forget it. You can see the way the lads were in the pits and, as they crossed the line in heat 15, what it meant.

“They ran on to the track, hugged each other and celebrated and you can’t stage that.

“I ended up getting the bumps in front of the grandstand which I didn’t expect on Saturday morning.

“We’re in the final but we’ve won nothing yet.”