LEICESTER need to score at least 37 points at Sheffield on Thursday to be sure of a place in the Premiership Knockout Cup Final.
The Watling JCB Lions head to Owlerton for the re-arranged second leg of their semi-final defending a 54-36 advantage from the opener of the tie at the Hydroscand Arena, Beaumont Park earlier this month.
That meeting saw the Lions put up a terrific performance to build the lead and take control of the tie, whilst being fully aware that the Tigers are perfectly capable of fighting back on their own circuit.
The second leg was due to take place 72 hours after the original match, but heavy rain close to start time saw it put back by three weeks.
And since then both sides have suffered injury blows with Luke Becker on the sidelines for the Lions, whilst last weekend saw Sheffield’s Rising Star Leon Flint, who has been in good form for the Tigers, suffer shoulder damage in a crash in Germany.
Lions continue to operate rider replacement for Becker whilst Sheffield have promoted Nathan Ablitt from their Steelers team in the NDL, and who is a rider with decent Championship experience, to guest for Flint.
Captain Josh Pickering missed their recent narrow home win over King’s Lynn, but having made his comeback in Poland last weekend he is fit to return to Tigers duty.
For Leicester it will be a first return to Owlerton for ex-Tigers captain Kyle Howarth who led them to a series of honours including last year’s KO Cup, and they will be looking for an all-round team effort to score the points they require.
Lions manager Stewart Dickson said: “It’s 50 years since this club reached the Final of the KO Cup in the top league, and that’s a long time!
“It would be very nice to reach the Final but I’m under no illusions, because we know Sheffield will throw everything at us initially.
“We need to make sure we hang in there, and hopefully we can see it out. We are certainly capable of doing it, so the first job is to get off to a decent start and then work our way through the meeting.”
Whichever team wins on aggregate will have to wait a further three weeks to discover the identity of their opponents in the Final, as Ipswich and King’s Lynn will race their own delayed second leg on July 17.
SHEFFIELD: Jack Holder, Anders Rowe, Josh Pickering, Lewis Kerr, Chris Holder, Justin Sedgmen, Nathan Ablitt.
LEICESTER: Max Fricke, Luke Becker r/r, Ryan Douglas, Kyle Howarth, Sam Masters, Drew Kemp, Joe Thompson.
