Sheffield Tigers v Leicester Lions: Simon Stead confident of taming British Premiership visitors
SHEFFIELD TIGERS will race at home for the first time in exactly a month when they welcome Leicester Lions to Owlerton tonight.
The Tigers produced a couple of strong late finishes to earn wins against Belle Vue and Ipswich in their previous two outings in front of their own fans and also completed a terrific last gasp turnaround at Northampton last week to pick up their first away win of the year.
They face a Leicester side who also won on the road for the first time this season at King’s Lynn on Monday and who have also been unbeaten in four of their last six trips to South Yorkshire.
The visitors operate rider replacement for Dan Thompson, who is required on Polish League duties, with former Sheffield stalwart Kyle Howarth a potential trump card down at reserve.
And while the Tigers have opted to run rider replacement for broken arm victim Jack Holder at No1, team manager Simon Stead still sees it as an opportunity to strengthen their position in the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership standings – despite knowing his remaining six riders, including returning captain Josh Pickering, will need to step up to the plate.
“The home defeat we had in the Knockout Cup against Leicester earlier in the season is the biggest down point in an otherwise reasonable start,” said Stead
“We’ve got an opportunity to put that right on Thursday night though.
“It will be tough, but I think, the team we are now, full of confidence is probably a little bit different to the one they encountered earlier in the year so I’m expecting a great meeting.
“One thing is for certain, if we want to pick up another win then we’ll need to cover for Jack well.”
Teams – Sheffield Tigers: Jack Holder R/R, Anders Rowe, Chris Holder, Leon Flint, Josh Pickering, Jye Etheridge, Luke Killeen.
Leicester Lions: Ryan Douglas, Drew Kemp, Nick Morris, Dan Thompson R/R, Sam Masters, Kyle Howarth, Joe Thompson.