LEICESTER are looking for a positive warm-up to next week’s Knockout Cup Final when they visit Sheffield in league action on Thursday (7.30pm).
The Watling JCB Lions can make club history by securing major top-flight silverware if they beat King’s Lynn over two legs next Monday and Thursday.
And ironically it was their semi-final performance against Sheffield which took them through as the Lions won both home and away against the Tigers last month.
They have also added two recent home victories over the same opponents in the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership, including their 56-34 success in June which means the aggregate point is a minimum target on Thursday.
But the Tigers got much closer when they visited the Hydroscand Arena, Beaumont Park on Monday in a Round 2 fixture, and they are certainly a stronger proposition than in the second leg of the Cup tie with in-form Rising Star Leon Flint now back from injury.
The Lions are the only away team to win at Owlerton this season, with their 46-44 victory in that Cup match underpinned by a flying start which saw them roar into a 12-point lead after five races.
There is a change to the Leicester line-up compared to that meeting with manager Stewart Dickson electing to book Richard Lawson as a guest for the injured Luke Becker.
The former Lions rider scored double figures from the No.2 berth at Owlerton in an early season visit with King’s Lynn.
Dickson said: “I think rider replacement is just taking its toll on the riders a little bit, so I’m going to use Richard at No.2 on Thursday.
“We certainly should be capable of getting the aggregate point there. This is the meeting where we are 22 points up, so if we don’t get that we need our backsides kicked!
“Then we get ready for our first KO Cup Final in 50 years at the highest level, and we have an opportunity to get major silverware there, so it’s a really exciting week or so ahead.”
SHEFFIELD: Jack Holder, Anders Rowe, Josh Pickering, Lewis Kerr, Chris Holder, Justin Sedgmen, Leon Flint.
LEICESTER: Max Fricke, Richard Lawson, Ryan Douglas, Kyle Howarth, Sam Masters, Drew Kemp, Joe Thompson.
