LEICESTER look to complete the job of Knockout Cup progression when they host Birmingham in the opening meeting of the season at the Hydroscand Arena, Beamont Park on Thursday (7.30pm).
The Watling JCB Lions made a spectacular start to their 2025 schedule when they raced to an empathic 57-33 win at Perry Barr in the first leg of the quarter-final tie on Monday.
That means it would take an upset of significant proportions for them not to set up a semi-final clash with holders Sheffield, but the meeting is still an important one as they look to start building another strong record on their own circuit.
The Lions’ new riding order worked well in the first leg with Luke Becker joining skipper Max Fricke for two early 5-1s whilst Ryan Douglas and Kyle Howarth collected heat advantages in all three of their races together, and the one-to-seven will be unchanged on Thursday.
Birmingham also send out the same septet in the same order as on Monday, and they will be looking for their new heat leader trio of Tobiasz Musielak, Matej Zagar and Michael Jepsen Jensen – all of whom have real international pedigree – to click into form.
Lions manager Stewart Dickson said: “As much as it was only one match, I was very pleased with everything on Monday including the riding order.
“I’m not saying it’s going to work all the time and I did say we’ll see how it goes, but it was good at Birmingham and I think everyone enjoyed riding in their positions.
“I guess if you can’t be happy after scoring 57 points away from home, you’re never going to be happy!
“But we know there are going to be tougher nights ahead. I do believe Birmingham will be much better on Thursday night, I suspect they may well score more points, and there will be no complacency from us.
“They did have some issues on Monday but we were certainly the better side regardless, and now the second leg will be a good outing on our own track.
“It’s the first home match of the season and we’re all looking forward to seeing the supporters. We’re not exactly a new-look team but it’s been a long winter, the weather forecast is good and I’m sure people are going to want to see us on track at home.”
Supporters are reminded that season tickets are not valid for KO Cup matches, and for those unable to attend the meeting will be live streamed on Lions TV. Passes are available from https://www.leicesterlionstv.com/ .
LEICESTER: Max Fricke, Luke Becker, Ryan Douglas, Kyle Howarth, Sam Masters, Drew Kemp, Sam Hagon.
BIRMINGHAM: Tobiasz Musielak, Jonas Jeppesen, Michael Jepsen Jensen, Keynan Rew, Matej Zagar, Antti Vuolas, Jason Edwards.
