LEICESTER will look to improve upon their recent away record when they make the short trip to Northampton for a local derby on Monday (7.30pm).
The Watling JCB Lions enjoyed a confidence-boosting home win over Sheffield last week, slamming a depleted Tigers side 58-32 at the Hydroscand Arena to further consolidate second place in the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership table.
Whilst that was taking place, Northampton were being heavily beaten at home by leaders Belle Vue, albeit with riders missing on the night.
And the Lions will need no reminding of their first visit to the International Shaleway back in May when a succession of points thrown away led to them becoming the first team to suffer a defeat against the league newcomers.
Since the most recent meeting between the sides, Northampton have made team changes with Adam Ellis and Mitch McDiarmid coming in to replace Matej Zagar and Troy Batchelor, and Ellis starred on his debut at Ipswich with 20 points.
They were missing Nicolai Klindt due to a Polish commitment against Belle Vue but he returns on Monday, although the hosts are without Rising Star Luke Harrison after a crash at Poole last week, and they bring in Freddy Hodder to guest.
The Lions remain without a full-time replacement for Kyle Howarth, and their guest choice for this meeting is former King’s Lynn rider Paco Castagna.
They won the reverse fixture 49-41 in early July but clearly must step things up from their last two matches on the road which saw them fall to heavy defeats at Belle Vue and Sheffield.
Lions manager Stewart Dickson said: “We’ve got to remember we are only eight points up to start with, so the aggregate point has to be the target first of all.
“Northampton have strengthened up and I know they had a tough result against Belle Vue but they will be back at near full strength for racing against us on Monday.
“There are opportunities for more points for us, as we also go to Ipswich on Thursday where we recently drew in the KO Cup Final, but we need to start riding better away from home if that’s going to be a reality.
“The play-offs are in sight now if we don’t do anything silly. We need to keep winning at home, that’s the key, and see what we can nick away from home, and that will be the message to the riders.
“It’s getting near to that time again, so hopefully we can find a bit more consistency in the run-up to it.”
Lions supporters not making the trip to Northampton should note the meeting will be available on live stream from https://www.northamptonfoxestv.com/ , with the same excellent production that we enjoy from the Hydroscand Arena. Live score updates will also be available from https://live.britishspeedway.co.uk/ .
NORTHAMPTON: Niels-Kristian Iversen, Kye Thomson, Nicolai Klindt, Adam Ellis, Jaimon Lidsey, Mitch McDiarmid, Freddy Hodder.
LEICESTER: Ryan Douglas, Drew Kemp, Nick Morris, Dan Thompson, Sam Masters, Paco Castagna, Joe Thompson.
*DAN Thompson finished fifth in the Cab Direct British Final on Saturday after a consistent performance at Belle Vue.
Thompson reeled off five second places in the qualifying races to score 10 points, but he was edged out of the Final by spectacular youngster Cooper Rushen and Leon Flint.
Robert Lambert went on to retain the title ahead of Charles Wright, Flint and Rushen, whilst Thompson’s position may prove to be of use next season bearing in mind allocations for championship qualifiers.
Drew Kemp was unable to replicate his recent Lions form in Manchester, although he did finish with a win in his last ride to score four points in total.
