PREVIEW: LEICESTER v POOLE (KOC SF)

LEICESTER face off with Poole at the Paul Chapman & Sons Arena tonight (Saturday) in the first leg of their KO Cup semi-final.

Redcar await the winners over two legs in the Final, with the Lions and the Pirates set to race to a finish at Wimborne Road on Wednesday.

Both sides are at full strength and are set for further clashes this season with the CJL Final, also involving Glasgow to come, as well as potentially in the play-offs.

Lions boss Stewart Dickson said: “It feels like ages since we’ve last raced at home, but thankfully all the boys have been racing elsewhere and we have a full team for Saturday.

“This should be an absolute humdinger of a tie, and of course we also know we’re going to be meeting Poole again in at least one other competition. They’re a strong team once more, and they did a job on us at the end of last season.

“We are confident around our home track and have had strong results there, but this is the time at which we need to make every point count, and that’s what we’ll all be focused on doing.”

Pirates co-manager Gary Havelock said: “The philosophy for us at Leicester will be to go there and beat them.

“For sure they are a very good team, but so is the Poole side and we have got the riders capable of getting the result there, so let’s see.”

LEICESTER: Nick Morris, Dan Thompson, Richie Worrall, Connor Mountain, Kyle Howarth, Joe Thompson, Max Clegg.
POOLE: Danny King, Ben Cook, Steve Worrall, Drew Kemp, Richard Lawson, Zach Cook, Nathan Ablitt.