LEICESTER face the prospect of a Championship play-off semi-final with Poole – but must first finish the job against Scunthorpe on Tuesday (7.30pm).
The Watling JCB Lions race the delayed second leg of their quarter-final with the Scorpions at the Paul Chapman & Sons Arena, holding an 18-point lead from their win in Lincolnshire earlier in the month.
Saturday’s scheduled match was called off due to the breakdown of the ambulance en route, and Poole as league leaders have since confirmed they have elected to face the winners of this tie in the semi-finals.
And assuming the Lions secure their progression, they are set for a rapid turnaround as they would travel to Wimborne Road in the first leg of the semi on Wednesday.
The second leg has been provisionally set for the Paul Chapman & Sons Arena on Saturday, with a slightly later start time of 7.30pm due to the televised Speedway of Nationals at Belle Vue in the afternoon as well as Leicester City’s home match against Manchester United.
Tuesday’s meeting will see British Champion Adam Ellis return to the Scunthorpe side at No.1.
Ellis was unavailable for Saturday’s postponed meeting and the inclusion of Jye Etheridge in his position was under the ‘no facility’ regulation whereby a club can only use a guest with an average at least 25% lower than a rider who is absent for reasons other than those which qualify for a full guest or R/R facility.
Elsewhere, the visitors are again expected to bring in James Shanes and Connor Mountain as guests for Tero Aarnio and Theo Pijper.
Lions star Ryan Douglas said: “We’ve got to finish the job, we don’t want to look like we haven’t had a great meeting for the other teams who could still have to come here – we want to look like we’re strong at home still.
“We definitely want to put in a good performance and set a line for the next meetings.
“On paper we’re a strong team and we probably haven’t shown it enough, but we’re definitely good enough to win this league and we believe we can – so a start here would be ideal to lay a marker, and keep going from there.”
LEICESTER: Nick Morris, Dan Thompson, Ryan Douglas, Kyle Howarth, Hans Andersen, Joe Thompson, Zaine Kennedy.
SCUNTHORPE: Adam Ellis, Simon Lambert, Jordan Palin, James Shanes, Thomas Jorgensen R/R, Josh MacDonald, Connor Mountain.
