LEICESTER head into the decisive phase of their season with a trip to Sheffield in the first leg of their ROWE Motor Oil Premiership play-off semi-final on Thursday (7.30pm).
The first job for the Watling JCB Lions is to emerge unscathed from Owlerton in terms of the tie as a whole, with matters to be concluded at the Hydroscand Arena next Thursday (October 1).
The Lions and the Tigers are familiar rivals as this will be the third time in the last two seasons that they have met in the semi-finals of major competitions.
Leicester came out on top on both occasions last year, including a dramatic play-off semi where they found themselves 14 points down after Heat 12 only to mount a sensational comeback with the last three races seeing them slash the gap to three.
But Sheffield were not to be beaten easily and the second leg went right down to the wire before the Lions prevailed.
This season, Leicester finished one point ahead of Sheffield in the regular league table, which gave them choice of legs in the semi-finals, whilst the head-to-head clashes in the league in 2026 have seen home wins all round, with each team taking one aggregate point.
Lions won at Owlerton in the KO Cup at the start of the season, but they must be mindful that recent visits have been less successful including a 57-33 defeat on their last appearance in South Yorkshire.
Another factor in the tie is the presence of former Lions skipper Max Fricke who dons Sheffield colours on this occasion as a guest for their long-term injured No.1 Jack Holder.
Lions welcome back Nick Morris after he missed their last two league fixtures as his partner gave birth, whilst newly crowned British Under-19 Champion Jody Scott steps in at reserve for the retired Kyle Howarth.
Leicester manager Stewart Dickson said: “We have to be honest and say that in the last couple of meetings we’ve not been very good, and we need to step up from that.
“We had a bad result at King’s Lynn, and I was still disappointed to lose at home to Ipswich regardless of missing Nick Morris.
“The simple instruction to the riders on Thursday will be to keep it as close as possible. We’ve had a couple of doings at Sheffield this season, so we know it’s going to be tough.
“I’m not playing it down, but I felt we were probably favourites this time last year, and I don’t think we’ll be labelled favourites by neutrals before the semi-final this season.
“But it all starts from zero, and I need all my seven riders to be on form. I don’t need nonsense talk about riders needing to ride above themselves, but I do need them all to be on their game for us to have a chance going into the second leg.
“So the mindset is to go there and keep it as close as heavenly possible, and keep the tie alive. That’s what we want to do – but I’m under no illusions that it’s definitely going to be tough.
“Jody scored six points there a few weeks ago and managed to beat Josh Pickering in Heat 4, he’s riding on the crest of a wave at the moment, and that’s the most obvious reason I can give for booking him.
“His confidence is high, plus he’s racing on both Tuesday and Wednesday so his clutch finger will be alert!
“Of course he’s a gamble, but I like a gamble now and again! The guests we’ve had so far unfortunately haven’t been able to cover adequately for Kyle, but I’ve known Jody for a while after he attended training schools at Leicester with his dad, and I’m pretty sure he can come in and do us a job.”
Lions fans not making the trip to Sheffield can follow all the action on the BSN live stream https://www.britishspeedwaynetwork.co.uk/ with scores and updates available from https://live.britishspeedway.co.uk/ .
SHEFFIELD: Max Fricke, Anders Rowe, Chris Holder, Leon Flint, Josh Pickering, Jye Etheridge, Luke Killeen.
LEICESTER: Ryan Douglas, Drew Kemp, Sam Masters, Dan Thompson, Nick Morris, Jody Scott, Joe Thompson.
