Following the disappointment of last weekend’s derby postponment, we must now press on, regroup and focus on the business in hand this coming Sunday.
We may barely have got our League Cup campaign underway, however already we are switching competition as we turn attention to the first round of the Knock Out Cup.
Tigers reached the final of course in 2011, and it would be a real bonus to secure a good cup run this season. Standing in our way of progressing to the next round are the Rye House Rockets, expertly led by Team GB World Cup star Ollie Allan and backed up with the talents of Jason Garrity (who performed so very well for us just a fortnight ago), the highly rated Australian Tyson Nelson, and Swede Anders Mellgren to name but four.
We travel down to Hertfordshire for the first leg on Saturday night, with the Rockets following us back up to Ashfield for the conclusion on Sunday.
Hoddesdon hasn’t always been a happy hunting ground for us, and with a couple of riders who haven’t seen their track before, it certainly won’t be an easy task to keep the first leg score close enough to overturn on Sunday.
Speaking about the teams prospects of snatching an aggregate win, and marching forward to face Sheffield in the next round, skipper Joe Screen was perfectly upbeat:
“Rye House is a difficult track, for me at least, but we will head there with the intention of keeping things close ..I think we could surprise a few people.
As a team, although we’ve not had as many meetings as we’d have liked, we need to take strength from our performance in beating Berwick. Everyone dug deep and we got the result we wanted.
Starting the season off away to Edinburgh and Berwick was tough, particularly for the new lads. Joey has certainly impressed me with his attitude and effort, to win a heat at Armadale on his debut speaks volumes.
Harley improved as the meeting went on, and unfortunately picked up a hard knock at Berwick, but he’s now fit again to face Rye House.
Am really impressed by Joe Jacobs attitude to his racing and his thirst to learn from myself, James (Grieves) and Sean.
I rode for Coventry this week and although I had a disappointing night overall I had no problems from my foot injury which is good, so will feel a whole lot more comfortable on the bike this weekend.
Hopefully we can come back to Ashfield on Sunday within striking distance of an aggregate win, regardless we will be all out to win at home …would be nice to get ourselves an extra couple of meetings against Sheffield which is one of my favourite tracks.”
The weather forecast for Sunday is much more speedway friendly, so plan now to turn out in force (why not use the occasion to invite some friends or workmates along) and cheer on the Tigers in the cup.
Best wishes to both James Wright and James Grieves who will compete in a tough looking British Semi-Final line up at Armadale this Friday night – would be fantastic if either/both could make it through to the televised Final itself at Wolverhampton on May 15th.
On the subject of British Final’s, best wishes too to young Joe Jacobs who will compete in the U21 version (also at Wolverhampton) next Tuesday night, April 23rd.