LEICESTER will look to keep their encouraging run going when they face a home clash with Midlands rivals Birmingham on Thursday (7.30pm).
The aggregate point is also at stake at the Pidcock Motorcycles Arena, Beaumont Park with the Watling JCB Lions well placed after their 43-29 win at Perry Barr last week.
That was followed up by an impressive home performance against Belle Vue with a 16-point victory over the Aces, giving the Lions’ 2024 season real momentum for the first time.
And they will go into Thursday’s meeting very much as favourites, with the Brummies having only taken one point from their opening five meetings.
However, the visitors have already put in dogged displays in their away matches at Oxford and Ipswich, with a line-up containing plenty of potential in the lower order.
And there is an international flavour at the top with Polish star Piotr Pawlicki having recently returned from injury, whilst Czech racer Vaclav Milik lines up at No.1 as he looks to find top form in his UK comeback season.
For the Lions, manager Stewart Dickson has shuffled the second-string berths with Luke Becker moving to No.2, exchanging places with Richard Lawson who goes to No.4.
And skipper Max Fricke, who scored a brilliant 15-point maximum at home to Belle Vue last week, is confident that the Lions can keep building with another win as they look to establish themselves in the play-off race.
Fricke said: “Early in the season it takes a couple of weeks to kind of iron out some things, and even myself just to get back into a little bit of form.
“Throughout the team I think we can continue to build and continue to improve on the result against Belle Vue, and it’s really promising for us looking forward.
“Thursday will hopefully be another meeting that will be a good one for us, if we can put in another strong performance, and that will keep us moving up that league table.”
A reminder that if you can't attend the meeting in person, there will be live coverage available at: https://www.leicesterlionstv.com/
LEICESTER: Max Fricke, Luke Becker, Sam Masters, Richard Lawson, Ryan Douglas, Drew Kemp, Joe Thompson.
BIRMINGHAM: Vaclav Milik, Steve Worrall, Wiktor Lampart, Tom Brennan, Piotr Pawlicki, Zach Cook, Leon Flint.
