LEICESTER face an important trip to King’s Lynn on Wednesday as the battle for Premiership play-off places intensifies.
The Watling JCB Lions are just one point outside the top four after their narrow win over Wolverhampton on Monday, whilst the sixth-placed Stars are looking to play catch-up with home matches in hand on all of their rivals.
Lions have already been eliminated from the KO Cup at the hands of the Norfolk club, and their last trip to the Adrian Flux Arena saw them beaten 59-31 in a second leg encounter.
But Danish duo Kenneth Bjerre – a former King’s Lynn rider – and Hans Andersen, along with the injured Danny King, were all missing from that meeting meaning a patched-up side took to the track.
Manager Simon Stead expects it to be a different story this time, and despite the rider availability problems faced by Premiership clubs racing on Wednesdays this season, the Lions are boosted by being able to travel with a full-strength line-up.
Stead said: “It’s great to be going there with a full team. We struggled there last time in the Cup, but we have a completely different team this time around.
“We went there before with riders missing, we had three guests in the team, but now we go there as a different outfit.
“Kenneth loves the place, Hans goes well everywhere, and I feel we’re looking a really solid line-up now.
“We’ve got look at getting something from the meeting. We got a win on Monday and three points was the important thing there, but I think there’s more to come from us this season.
“We saw the difference the new signings made on Monday and I think that’s going to make us a serious threat to anyone going forward.”
Lions re-shuffle their riding order for the meeting with Krystian Pieszczek switching to No.2, whilst new signings Ricky Wells and Charles Wright form the middle-order pairing.
King’s Lynn are without the in-form Michael Palm Toft due to a Danish commitment, and they operate the rider-replacement facility with Ty Proctor likely to be a key man at reserve.
The Stars slammed Rye House 58-32 in their last home meeting with British Champion Robert Lambert keeping up his sensational form, whilst Niels-Kristian Iversen bagged a full maximum in their draw at Somerset last time out.
KING’S LYNN: Niels-Kristian Iversen, Lewis Kerr, Michael Palm Toft R/R, Thomas Jorgensen, Robert Lambert, Kasper Andersen, Ty Proctor, Ryan Kinsley (no.8).
LEICESTER: Kenneth Bjerre, Krystian Pieszczek, Ricky Wells, Charles Wright, Hans Andersen, James Sarjeant, Todd Kurtz.
