Saturday’s meeting against the Edinburgh Monarchs brings to an end Leicester’s home fixtures in the Premier League and the Lions welcome back Alex Edberg who has missed six of the last seven matches through injury.
Leicester make two changes to the team to face Edinburgh with the inclusion of Linus Eklöf and Simon Nielsen, two former Lions riders who replace Kauko Nieminen and James Sarjeant. The Lions captain has been ruled out for the remainder of the season and will undergo an operation soon on his injured shoulder.
“It is a blow to lose Kauko at such a critical part of the season but it is more important for him to have the operation now as I understand the recovery period is in the region of four months so it makes sense to proceed and be ready for the start of next season. As soon as we knew the situation regarding Kauko we have moved quickly to cover for his absence by asking Linus to return to the club and we are thankful that he has been able to rearrange his life to answer our call of help. We are sorry to have to say goodbye to James who has bags of talent, a great attitude and a joy to work with. Unfortunately, we are really struggling to compete on an equal footing with every team we meet when it comes to the reserve races and therefore we feel the need to try and resolve the situation going into the final two fixtures which are a make or break time for us. The return of Alex Edberg following his injury and the re-engagement of Simon Nielsen at reserve is intended to give us greater experience where we have been lacking” commented the Lions Co-promoter Alan Jones.
Linus Eklöf joined Leicester in July 2012 and his presence helped the Lions to make the play-offs. Since then the twenty-four year old has raced back home in Sweden for Smederna and Griparna where he is a teammate of Edberg.
Edinburgh are certainties for a play-off position and all that remains now is whether they finish first or second in the table. It has not been all plain sailing though for the Monarchs who have had a couple of scares along the way when Redcar and Newcastle plundered the points at the Armadale Stadium which over the years has proved a stronghold and a watershed for visiting teams. Their away record though has compensated for the home reversals because out of eight meetings completed the Scottish club have picked up points in every fixture.
The Monarchs have arguably the best rider in the Premier League in Craig Cook who has had another terrific season with Edinburgh and not surprisingly he rides the Leicester circuit as well as anyone and is the current track record holder.
“It is a make or break night for us against Edinburgh where we have to win by seven points or more to stand any chance of a place in the play-offs. That is a tall order against the Monarchs who collectively as a team have increased their match average by over two points a meeting. That is some going indeed and it goes without saying that we have to get ourselves into the right mental frame of mind to make every race count” added Jones.
