LEICESTER boss Simon Stead has declared the club are in it to win it as they prepare for Knockout Cup action on Monday (7.30).
The Watling JCB Lions welcome King’s Lynn Stars to the Paul Chapman and Sons Arena (Beaumont Park) for a two-legged cup tie, with the return on Wednesday May 16.
Stead’s riders have won two out of three SGB Premiership meetings on their own shale so far their season and were only defeated by reigning champions Swindon Robins in the last heat.
The Stars made Premiership waves by beating Swindon 51-39 last week for a second home victory of the campaign, but have lost both meetings on the road so far.
League form is put to one side for a cup competition, but Stead reckons the momentum gained from the positive starts on their track of late.
Leicester have led the way in all of their encounters, seeing off Rye House Rockets 53-37 the last time they took to the bikes.
That got the disappointment of the close-run setback to the titleists out of their system and the Lions boss believes it will serve them well going forward.
Stead said: “There’s positives to take into this and we want to win everything, that’s the mentality we have here and we’ll be going out there to get through.
“The season still doesn’t really feel like it’s started yet, we haven’t really done a lot of riding because of the weather, but the meetings are starting to become more regular now.
“We’ve got plenty of racing to look forward to and we’ve got a team that can be challenging for honours this season.
“We’ve got a fantastic line-up and a great chance of being right up there at the sharp end. Let’s see where that takes us.”
Captain Danny King is absent for Leicester through injury, with Ricky Wells drafted in as a guest to cover for the Lions.
King was lucky to escape serious injury, with only soft tissue to his arm which went under a tyre at Ipswich Witches last Thursday night.
King’s Lynn have British wonderkid Robert Lambert in their ranks, who guested for Leicester to great effect against Somerset last month.
LEICESTER: Kenneth Bjerre, Kyle Newman, Ricky Wells, Krystian Pieszczek, Hans Andersen, James Sarjeant, Todd Kurtz.
KING'S LYNN: Niels-Kristian Iversen, Michael Palm Toft, Ty Proctor, Thomas Jorgensen, Robert Lambert, Kasper Andersen, Lewis Kerr.
