PREVIEW: BIRMINGHAM v SCUNTHORPE (Cab Direct Champ)

BIRMINGHAM stage their penultimate home Cab Direct Championship fixture of the season when Scunthorpe visit Perry Barr tonight (Wednesday).

It will be the third time this season the two sides have done battle in the Second City with the Scorpions edging the previous contests in both the BSN Series and Knockout Cup.

The Brummies are still chasing the top six and can go into the play-off places with a positive result.

They once again bring in Josh Pickering to guest for the suspended Nick Morris, whilst the Scorpions are at full strength as they look to consolidate their own position.

Birmingham boss Stewart Dickson said: “These next two home meetings against Scunthorpe and Plymouth are going to be crucial to whether we make it into the top six or not – but first and foremost we have to focus on this Wednesday.

“No disrespect to Scunthorpe, because they have got some decent riders in their team and they have already been to Birmingham and won twice, but they’re the sort of team who we need to be looking at beating at home – if everybody rides how we know they can.

“The two match points are the main focus but if we could get off to a good strong start then that aggregate point could also become very useful in a couple of weeks’ time.”

Scorpions promoter Rob Godfrey said: “We’ve beaten Birmingham five times this season. But Birmingham are a different team since we won twice at their place earlier in the year, and the scores start again at 0-0 and there’s a job to be done. 

“We’d like to put any place in the play-offs beyond any doubt, and we can do that by winning at Birmingham and then beating Glasgow at home on Friday.”

BIRMINGHAM: Josh Pickering, Stefan Nielsen, Troy Batchelor, Alfie Bowtell, Justin Sedgmen, Sam Hagon, Paul Starke.
SCUNTHORPE: Ryan Douglas, Connor Mountain, Simon Lambert, Michael Palm Toft, Jake Allen, Nathan Ablitt, Drew Kemp.

*LIVE STREAMING: https://www.brummies.tv/