LEICESTER turn their attentions to the Championship KO Cup this weekend as they face Scunthorpe over two legs looking for a place in the last four of the competition.
The Watling JCB Lions, who overcame Birmingham in the first round, head to the Eddie Wright Raceway on Friday before hosting the return fixture at the Paul Chapman & Sons Arena on Saturday (7pm).
Scunthorpe has traditionally been a happy hunting ground for the Lions – but that record was severely dented by a 55-35 defeat there in the league on Good Friday.
And although the Lions still had the aggregate advantage over the Scorpions after running up a 62-point total at home a fortnight earlier, boss Stewart Dickson expects the opposition to be far stronger on their next visit.
Lions track a full-strength side with Anders Rowe returning after his recent absence due to illness, whilst Scunthorpe include former Leicester riders Ryan Douglas, Zaine Kennedy and Simon Lambert.
The latter scored a 15-point maximum at reserve in his last home meeting against Oxford, and this weekend is partnered by Joe Alcock after Ryan Kinsley suffered a collarbone injury recently.
Dickson said: “We lost by 20 points there last time and we certainly can’t be losing by that amount again, because I don’t expect Scunthorpe to turn up to Leicester and put up the same performance they did at the start of the season.
“I don’t like to put a figure on it, but we certainly need to be scoring more than 35, and ideally our score on Friday would start with a 4, to make sure we’re still in the tie ahead of Saturday.
“I do appreciate Scunthorpe are pretty good around their patch, but we just need a better performance from the whole team compared to the last time there, and if we get that then we should have enough to make it competitive on Saturday night.
“Scunthorpe have never had a great record at Leicester, but that could easily change, so it would be nice to come back to the Paul Chapman & Sons Arena with 40-something on our score.
“We are pretty good around Leicester and the boys know there’s a chance of another four meetings after this if we get through, and a chance of silverware, so it’s a big weekend for us.”
Supporters not making the trip to the Eddie Wright Raceway can take advantage of Scunthorpe’s live streaming service, which is available from: https://tv.scunthorpe-speedway.com .
SCUNTHORPE: Ryan Douglas, Jordan Palin, Zaine Kennedy, Jake Allen, Tero Aarnio, Joe Alcock, Simon Lambert.
LEICESTER: Richie Worrall, Dan Thompson, Nick Morris, Connor Mountain, Kyle Howarth, Anders Rowe, Joe Thompson.
