MEETING PREVIEW: TAMING THE LIONS WILL BE NO EASY TASK

23/07/21

Having secured their place in the quarter finals of the Knockout cup after Wednesday night's rout against Plymouth, the Pirates' attention turns to a tough league trip to title favourites Leicester on Saturday night.

The Lions, readily fancied at the start of the season to defend the club's SGB Championship success of 2019, have strengthened up even further through the recent signing of former Poole favourite Hans Andersen and will also be offering a home debut to latest capture Zaine Kennedy.

They were already a solid outfit with Nick Morris, Ryan Douglas and Kyle Howarth who are all big hitters with a key current reserve partnership of the Thompson twins – Dan and Joe – the teenage brothers having already gained plenty of experience under their belts around the Paul Chapman and Sons Arena through their development at youth level.

The LE4 venue has been very much a fortress as far as second tier league racing is concerned, with the Lions running a 100% home record when the club stepped back down in 2019 after five seasons in the higher league. Prior to that, they last lost a home league fixture on August 13th 2013 when a Rye House side pipped them by a single point in a 44-45 outcome.

The task that the Pirates face has not been lost on the Pirates' leading points score of 2021, Steve Worrall who admitted "it is going to get tough for us over the next few weeks as we have a busy schedule, especially starting with Leicester as they look a very good side."

Worrall who has scored 86 points for Poole, returning double figures from each of his seven meetings as a Pirate has had a mixed bag of results around the Lions' circuit in his career, but his sharp starting form this season should serve him well on Saturday.
The Pirates make one change from Wednesday's solid cup performance, as Alfie Bowtell steps into the void created as a consequence of travel problems for Czechian Ondrej Smetana. The Plymouth rider finished runners-up in the Leicester-staged 2018 National League Riders' championship.

Teams
Leicester: H.Andersen; Z.Kennedy; K.Howarth; R.Douglas; N.Morris; D.Thompson; J.Thompson. Team manager – S.Dickson

Poole: R.Schlein; A.Bowtell [Guest] ; S.Worrall; S.Nielsen; D.King; B.Cook; D.Hume; Team manager – N.Middleditch