LEICESTER round off their regular away Championship programme with a trip to newcomers Oxford on Wednesday (7.30pm).
Re-calculation of the league table has now taken place following the recent withdrawal of Newcastle, and the Watling JCB Lions are ten points clear of Glasgow at the top.
However, all of the teams challenging for a top two finish have matches in hand, and the Lions can aid their position immensely by taking more points on the road at Cowley.
They face a very different Cheetahs side to the one they defeated at the Paul Chapman & Sons Arena in May, with the home side having recently introduced Aaron Summers as a replacement for the injured Jack Thomas, and the Australian has made a flying start to life with his new club.
Former Lions rider Paul Starke has now been recruited to replace Kyle Newman, and he makes his debut on Wednesday, but skipper Scott Nicholls is still ruled out after a crash at Peterborough last Monday and Erik Riss comes in to guest.
Both sides also have a guest at reserve with Jordan Jenkins replacing Josh Macdonald for the Cheetahs, whilst Jason Edwards again fills the Lions’ blank space at No.6.
Manager Stewart Dickson said: “I’m looking forward to going for a couple of reasons – one, I’ve never been, and two, we’re looking to get something there.
“They’ve strengthened up obviously with Aaron Summers, I was lucky enough to see him at Glasgow a week ago last Friday and he was in excellent form, so he’s certainly strengthened them.
“It’s going to be a tough one, but it’s our last away league match and we need to be trying to get something there.
“We know it will be difficult, but it will be nice if we can add to our away points tally, which would give a higher points total for the other teams to try and achieve.
“But at the same time we’ve still got Berwick and Edinburgh to come at home, and I know I’ve said it before but we need to keep the back door closed. That’s probably more important, but it would be nice to add to our points tally on Wednesday.”
OXFORD: Erik Riss, Cameron Heeps, Paul Starke, Aaron Summers, Troy Batchelor, Dillon Ruml, Jordan Jenkins.
LEICESTER: Nick Morris, Connor Mountain, Richie Worrall, Joe Thompson, Kyle Howarth, Jason Edwards, Dan Thompson.
