Sky Sports will broadcast the speedway match of the season when their cameras visit Glasgow tomorrow (Tuesday) night.
That’s the view of Tigers team boss Stewart Dickson – who’s anticipating a mouth-watering tie between two of the Premier League’s high-flyers.
Sheffield travel to the Peugeot Ashfield Stadium having made a scintillating start to the season. Despite the loss of No 1 Simon Stead to injury, they sit close to the top of the table – their success having been aided by the form of ex-Glasgow man Andre Compton.
Glasgow were the pre-season favourites to take the title and the match will mark the start of their own campaign after a couple of rain postponements.
Live Clash
Dickson believes it has all the elements to be the best meeting that the broadcaster has shown so far in 2015 – but he’s wary of the threat that Sheffield will pose.
He said: “It would be fair to say we haven’t fired on all cylinders since the speedway season started, but I think results have been pretty decent. We’re looking to get one or two of the riders who are not quite up to speed going. If they can get a couple of wins each it gives them confidence.
“Tuesday is now looking slightly more difficult than what I thought it would be two or three weeks ago. Sheffield don’t look that strong on paper but speedway riders race with confidence – and they are racing with confidence. Compton is scoring nine and 10 a meeting from the No 2 position and we know he can ride our track.
“They’ll be as desperate as us to put on a good show in front of the Sky cameras. All of a sudden, it looks like Sky have picked the best match because they’re sitting near top of the league and deservedly so – it’s going to be interesting.”
However, Dickson will insist on a win from his Tigers team before they make a league visit to Ipswich – the week being rounded off by Sunday’s meeting with Scunthorpe.
He said: “We’re looking to get three points before we head down south. The match could be tricky, but when I look at it, we have three out-and-out heatleaders. We should be able to sort them out in the big races when it comes to it.
“I’m sure most of our guys have raced in front of the cameras on a regular basis. But we can’t let the occasion get away with us. We’ve got to keep our mind on the job because they will be coming looking to take something.
“It’s an exciting time for the club and it’s just rewards for what Gerry and Michael Facenna have done with the club. Under the floodlights, it should be good. We only had the one evening meeting last year and it was a cracking meeting because we had all day to work on the track.
“It’s a big week. At the moment we’re at the bottom of the table because we’ve not raced any matches, but come Sunday we should be sitting with two home wins and the worst I’m looking for is a point at Ipswich. That’s the target.”
Tomorrow’s match starts at 7.30pm. A bumper crowd is expected but fans can buy tickets on the night – as well as in advance from the official website.
Glasgow had been due to visit Peterborough this Friday, but the match has been postponed as the Panthers’ track is unavailable.