LIONS FACE MAJOR TASK

LEICESTER boss Stewart Dickson admitted his side had been beaten by the better team on the night as they lost out by four points in the first leg of the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership Grand Final.

The Lions saw their eleven-match winning run at home ended as the Witches again showed a liking for the Hydroscand Arena, Beaumont Park with a 47-43 win in front of the largest crowd seen at the East Midlands venue in years.

Skipper Max Fricke top-scored with 12 points, and after losing to Emil Sayfutdinov in a classic Heat 13, his Heat 15 5-1 with Ryan Douglas (11+1) did give them some hope heading to Foxhall on Thursday.

Dickson said: “It’s four points, and it could have been a lot worse – it could have been 12 if they’d got a 5-1 in Heat 15.

“I’ll not sugarcoat it, we’ve lost the home leg and that’s something I wanted to avoid. But they are a good team, and now we need to go there on Thursday and almost do the impossible.

“We’ve won there before, and Sheffield won there a couple of weeks ago, but it’s going to be a big task, and if I was in their position I’d be a lot happier than the position we’re in.

“We wish Adam Ellis all the best. It looked a nasty crash and I hope he’s okay, he’s a nice lad, and I did say pre-Final that I didn’t want to see anyone get injured. But it shows you how good they are that they covered well for him with their reserves, it shows their strength in depth.”

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Photo credit: JEFF HIGGOTT