Lions facing long trips to complete their away programme

LEICESTER VISIT KENT KINGS TONIGHT AND THEN RACE GLASGOW TIGERS TOMORROW

LEICESTER complete their away league fixtures with two long trips tonight and tomorrow, writes Alan Jones.

The Lions visit Central Park Stadium in Sittingbourne tonight to race against the Kent Kings and return to Scotland tomorrow to face the Glasgow Tigers in a rearranged match following Sunday’s abandonment.

Leicester need to win both matches by a winning margin of seven points or more which will give them a maximum of eight league points to secure second place in the Championship table and an automatic route direct into the semi-finals of the play-offs next month.

But it is a challenging timetable for the team to race in Kent tonight before making the long journey north to Glasgow tomorrow.

Lions co-promoter David Darcy, pictured, said: “In an ideal world we would not have committed the team to such a punishing schedule but the cut-off date for all league fixtures to be completed is this Sunday before the commencement of the play-offs.

“The abandonment of the match against Glasgow after one heat due to the track conditions following earlier rain has meant we had to go back to Scotland virtually on the next available date that they were able to offer us.

“To add pressure on the Glasgow management they are committed to having to race at home again on Friday against Birmingham to complete their fixtures, which is not ideal from a commercial point of view.”

The Watling JCB Lions are scheduled to complete their home league fixture programme on Saturday with the visit of the Kent Kings to the Paul Chapman and Sons Arena at an earlier start time of 6pm.