Lions hope to put Pirates to the sword in cup battle

LEICESTER travel to Dorset tonight to race against the Poole Pirates in the second leg of the Knock-out Cup semi-final, having already qualified for the end of season play-offs next month to determine the league champions, writes Alan Jones.

The Lions raced their last league fixture at Glasgow Tigers on Sunday, hoping for at least a draw that would have seen the club finish second in the final league table.

The top two clubs are seeded directly into the semi-finals of the play-offs but Leicester’s target was out of their reach as early as the 12th heat because the home side had the match won by then.

A late rally by Leicester in the final two races made the 49-41 final score look more respectable.

But the defeat means the Lions have finished third in the league table and will now face Scunthorpe home and away in the quarter-finals of the playoffs.

Dan Thompson, right, withdrew on the morning of the match in Scotland with a sickness bug which left Leicester without their high-scoring teenager and he will miss tonight’s cup tie at Poole. The Lions hold an eight-point lead from the home leg against the Pirates who are the in-form team.

On their last visit to the Wimborne Stadium in July, the Lions were on the wrong end of a 52-38 result, their heaviest defeat of the season.

Lions co-promoter David Darcy said: “Poole have been in exceptional form at home this season and only once have scored less than 50 points, so we know the task ahead of us. “Apart from that match our form away has been consistent and we have been averaging 44 points per meeting over the campaign. If we can achieve that same total we will go through to the final.

“The beauty of the cup competition is that anything can happen.

“We don’t fear Poole and go there in a positive frame of mind.

“Ideally we were looking for a 10 to 12-points lead from the match at

Leicester but had to settle for eight in the end.

“But they have to do the chasing tonight.”

The beauty of the cup is that anything can happen. We don’t fear Poole, they have to do the chasing David Darcy

Tonight’s teams Poole: 1. Rory Schlein,

2. Benjamin Basso,

3. Steven Worrall,

4. Ben Cook, 5. Danny King, 6. Zach Cook and 7. Danyon Hume

Leicester: 1. Nick Morris,

2. Dan Thompson (rider replacement), 3. Ryan Douglas,

4. Kyle Howarth, 5. Hans Andersen,

6. Joe Thompson and 7. Zaine Kennedy