LEICESTER are back on the road this Thursday (7.30pm) when they travel to Sheffield in a meeting of second versus third in the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership table.
The sides are set to meet twice in the next week with the return fixture at the Hydroscand Arena, Beaumont Park coming up next Thursday (August 13).
It’s a rivalry which has simmered nicely in recent years with the Watling JCB Lions having generally had the better of things at both venues, but their last visit to Owlerton did see them go down to a 53-37 defeat.
Sheffield have maintained a strong home record despite the long-term absence of injury victim Jack Holder, with the Tigers having topped the 50-point mark in all league matches on their own track with the exception of an extraordinary meeting against King’s Lynn which the Stars won 46-44.
Holder’s place on Thursday is taken by former World Champion Jason Doyle who makes a guest appearance for the Tigers at No.1, whilst Anders Rowe was in sensational form in a defeat at King’s Lynn on Monday.
Whilst that was happening, the Lions were once again unable to make a significant impact on the scoreboard at Belle Vue despite their efforts, as their five-match winning run in the league came to an end.
They have a maximum of 28 days (from last Thursday) to bring in a full-time replacement for the retired Kyle Howarth, with Will Cairns stepping in as a guest at Owlerton in an otherwise unchanged line-up.
Lions manager Stewart Dickson said: “It’s going to be a tough night again, but we will certainly be better than we were at Belle Vue, I think that’s an obvious thing to say!
“We have the home match against Sheffield next week, so the target is to get as many points as we can there, and if there’s an opportunity for more then we’ll look to grab it.
“They’re coming into a bit of form, especially at home, and I think we should take it as compliment that they’ve got Jason Doyle racing against us, because they’ve been using rider replacement in their recent home matches.
“Now Jason is in the minute we come around, and I guess that’s what happens when you win a Cup and do well at tracks!”
Unfortunately there is no visual coverage of this match as Sheffield do not live stream their home meetings, but our social media channels will be following the action and live score updates will be available from https://live.britishspeedway.co.uk/ .
SHEFFIELD: Jason Doyle, Anders Rowe, Chris Holder, Leon Flint, Josh Pickering, Jye Etheridge, Luke Killeen.
LEICESTER: Ryan Douglas, Drew Kemp, Nick Morris, Dan Thompson, Sam Masters, Will Cairns, Joe Thompson.
