PREVIEW: LEICESTER v KING’S LYNN (PREM KO CUP FINAL)

LEICESTER and King’s Lynn are locked all-square at 45 points apiece ahead of the second leg of the Premiership KO Cup Final tonight (Thursday).

The teams fought out a competitive draw at the Adrian Flux Arena on Monday, meaning whoever wins tonight at the Hydroscand Arena, Beaumont Park will secure the silverware.

The Lions are chasing their first-ever major top-flight team trophy, having been beaten in the Final of this competition exactly 50 years ago, whilst Lynn last enjoyed Cup success at this level back in 2000.

Leicester are unchanged from the first leg with Tom Brennan, who top scored on Monday, again guesting for the injured Luke Becker.

Meanwhile the Stars have called upon Scott Nicholls, a man with a record of past success when he rode for Leicester, to stand in for Ben Cook.

Lions manager Stewart Dickson said: “Whilst we are halfway there as the first aim on Monday was to come away from King’s Lynn with the tie still alive, the job is not done by any means.

“I’m very mindful that King’s Lynn still have Nicolai Klindt at reserve, and he’s likely to have seven rides again given the form he’s on at the moment.

“There might also be a couple of our riders who will find it tough to better their scores from Monday, so it’s essential that we have a full team performance with points from other areas and all seven riders contributing.”

Stars boss Rob Lyon said: “We’ve got to show the same sort of character we showed at Ipswich in the semi-final.

“We did it there, and there’s no reason why we can’t do it again and pull something off. Leicester have lost at home to Birmingham this year so they are vulnerable, and anything can happen in speedway.

“Everyone in the team has been around Leicester enough times and they know what the track is going to be like. It’s not going to be a surprise, so it’s down to our boys to pull off a victory – and a victory gives us the Cup, which would be fantastic if we could do it.”

LEICESTER: Max Fricke, Tom Brennan, Ryan Douglas, Kyle Howarth, Sam Masters, Drew Kemp, Joe Thompson.
KING’S LYNN: Niels-Kristian Iversen, Richard Lawson, Chris Harris, Scott Nicholls, Jan Kvech, Nicolai Klindt, Luke Harrison.

SCB Referee: Chris Durno

*LIVE STREAMING: https://watch.britishspeedway.co.uk