LIONS SMASH TIGERS’ HOME RECORD

LEICESTER continued their 2025 domination over Sheffield with a 48-42 win at Owlerton to move above the Tigers in the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership table.

The Lions are the only visiting team to be successful in South Yorkshire this season, a feat they have now achieved twice, and they have been victorious in all five meetings so far across both league and cup.

A 5-1 in Heat 9 from Drew Kemp and Sam Masters over Josh Pickering and Lewis Kerr proved decisive as Sheffield were never able to recover from a six-point deficit, with a tactical substitute ride for Jack Holder in Heat 12 negated by Ryan Douglas.

Masters top scored for the Lions with 10+1 and skipper Max Fricke added 10, whilst Holder led the Tigers’ scoring on 14+1 as they dropped to fourth in the table.

Leicester boss Stewart Dickson said: “I never came here expecting to win to be honest. I thought we’d keep it close, but our boys did well again tonight.

“There was some tough racing out there, some legs getting thrown out either side, and I was very pleased to have it wrapped up before Heat 15.

“It’s pretty much the same as this time last season when we came into a good run of form, and we’ve done it probably around the same time again. We fell away later on last year, and that’s a problem we don’t want to happen again.”

Sheffield manager Simon Stead said: “I don’t think we can say a lot about the track because it’s the same for all the riders on both teams.

“When you look down the scorechart you can see where we’re lacking; one point from two riders is not good enough and we need to have a look at that.

“We’ve been beaten by the better team which shows the benchmark of where we’re going to need to be at if and when we get into the play-offs.”

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Photo credit: MIA DURKIN