PREVIEW: SHEFFIELD v LEICESTER (Sports Insure Prem)

SHEFFIELD hand a 2023 debut to new signing Josh Pickering when they host Leicester in the Sports Insure Premiership at Owlerton tonight (Thursday).

Pickering, who is on the comeback trail after injury, is back for a second spell with the Tigers as a replacement for David Bellego.

The home side face a Lions outfit in good form, with six wins in their last seven matches, and the visitors carry a 53-37 advantage for the aggregate point.

Sheffield boss Simon Stead said: “We know we’re in for a real battle. They’re another team who have riders who go well at Sheffield, they’re also solid all the way through and they’ve had some good results of late.

“But we just need to keep doing what we have been doing at home – our home form has been pleasing, our riders have been riding very, very well at Owlerton and yet I still feel like there’s more to come from us.”

Lions manager Stewart Dickson said: “It’s a tough match for sure, especially with them bringing Josh Pickering in just in time to face us, but we need to focus on our own team and we go there in confident mood.

“Winning there will be difficult, I’m not going to dress it up because they’re pretty good around their own place.

“But we have a 16-point lead, so at worst I expect to come away with the aggregate point, and if we could add that to the win at King’s Lynn then it would be a decent week.”

SHEFFIELD: Tobiasz Musielak, Lewis Kerr, Adam Ellis, Josh Pickering, Jack Holder, Kyle Howarth, Dan Gilkes.
LEICESTER: Max Fricke, Justin Sedgmen, Richard Lawson, Chris Harris, Nick Morris, Jake Allen, Drew Kemp.