PLYMOUTH Gladiators badly missed skipper Kyle Howarth as they suffered their first home Championship defeat of the season, going down 47-42 to Birmingham Brummies at The Coliseum last night.

Howarth was ruled out with a trapped nerve in his neck, and the rider replacement facility the Gladiators used to cover him only produced three points – way below what Howarth would normally score.

Richie Worrall, Ben Barker and Dan Gilkes all scored heavily but guest Lee Complin, Paul Starke and Ben Trigger could only manage six points between them.

Birmingham, however, were solid throughout their line-up as they recorded their first win of the season in any competition, and that was despite losing former Plymouth rider Stefan Nielsen after a second-bend fall in his first outing to an ankle injury.

Justin Sedgmen was the star of the Brummies' show with a superb 14 points from five rides, but he had good backing, with Alfie Bowtell particularly doing well on his return to The Coliseum after spending the last two seasons with Plymouth, with a paid 10 haul.

The meeting was neck and neck throughout the first 11 heats, though the Brummies were always in the lead from their heat one 4-2 advantage.

Worrall looked in superb form as he went unbeaten in his opening four rides, but the Brummies started to pull clear with a 4-2 in heat 12 and a telling 5-1 in the following race from Sedgmen and Nick Morris over Worrall and Gilkes, which opened up a seven-point gap.

Worrall rode in five of the last six races as he took rider replacement and tactical substitute rides, but he finished with three third places.

Complin was involved in arguably the race of the night as he stormed around the outside to overtake Joe Thompson for second position in heat 12.

Brummie team manager Laurence Rogers told the club's website: “That feels so good! We had a chat as a team on track walk and with it being the first league meeting, we said that our season started here – and boy did they respond. “We got off to such a good start and that gave us some confidence from the off. “We may have lost Stefan in his first ride but the team pulled together brilliantly and they fully deserved that win." Plymouth: Richie Worrall 14+2 (7 rides), Ben Barker 13 (6), Dan Gilkes 9 (5), Lee Complin 3 (4), Paul Starke 2+2 (5), Ben Trigger 1 (3), Kyle Howarth R/R.

Birmingham: Justin Sedgmen 14 (5), Alfie Bowtell 9+1 (5), Nick Morris 8+2 (5), Paco Castagna 8 (4), Joe Thompson 5 (5), James Pearson 3+2 (5), Stefan Nielsen 0 (1).

Plymouth are back in action tonight for a dead rubber BSN Series meeting at Oxford Cheetahs, but they then have a break until Tuesday, June 6, when they tackle Poole Pirates in the Championship.

It provides a three-week gap between fixtures, during which team manager Garry May will assess the injuries to Howarth and reserve Jake Turner (twisted knee), but he hinted that team changes would be made before the Pirates come to town again as the Gladiators look to salvage their Championship season before it is over.