Teromaafan

Great match tonight, Plymouth pushed the Lions all the way and to be honest, nobody would have begrudged them of the point they narrowly missed out on. Plymouth are easily play off semi finalists in my opinion but the Kennett guest facility that is still in place continues to make the Gladiators stronger than they would otherwise be. I can’t remember Kennett ever having a decent meeting at Leicester and he would never have scored what Nicholls did tonight. Rider averages are only based on league matches and Kennett hasn’t ridden in one this season! (Yes I know, it’s rolling averages that count). Can’t blame their management for playing the system, but there surely has to be a timeframe for milking a facility for a riders absence whose average is in decline. Is he actually even injured or did he just have a one meeting agreement? Hopefully not the latter as that would make the sport look (even more, if that’s possible) amateurish.

Yes, most strange (don’t suppose any of the moderators are called Ford or Middleditch are they?).

It’s been cold and dull today but hardly any rain in Leicester. So much for the weather forecasters. When the met office get it so wrong, we just shrug our shoulders and smile because we’re British. Just wish folk would respond the same to me when I get my job totally wrong!

With my team manager’s hat on I thought the Lions would have put one of the Cubs in to replace Rowe……….. I’ll get my coat! Dickson’s choice of guest has wildly exceeded all expectations. Hats off to the gaffer and take a bow Jason Edwards!

Weather forecast looks grim for Sunday.

Think you are about right there although I can’t see Oxford finishing in the top six.

Connor Coles has to be worth a punt. His NL average is actually higher than Joe Thompson's (although averages don't tell you everything of course).

The season after I got into the sport, Olsen went to Coventry and took them to another level whilst The Lions were in decline and as a school kid I used to detest our local rivals upturn. Home defeats to the bees seemed the norm for a while. I’ve now grown up and the Bees are no more. It’s healthy to have rivalry in sport (without hatred) and I think that people on this forum will try and wind Pirates fans up with some banter. Some of them take it too seriously (taking the bait) judging by responses to posts.

Thanks SF!

When I went to this fixture last year there were major road works between the stadium and the One Stop retail park. Is this work completed or should I avoid it and approach it from another route? Thanks in advance to anyone who can offer advice.

All of those 5 year olds looking for a night out without an adult will be thinking twice with this price structure.

Like a few of the Scunny riders I simply could not be bothered to show up for this meeting, but pleased to read the positive forum comments on the racing. Chose to stay at home and watch the GP instead and the quality of racing was poor to be honest with next to no passing. I would like to know what people that were present thought about Anders Rowe. No disrespect to Scunny, but if you can only score one point at home against this team, questions will be asked. With all of the negative rumours about Anders, it makes me wonder if Mr Dickson will tolerate him much longer.

I may be cynical but I suspect that they did not want to advertise that a team that is likely to get a good spanking will be even weaker without their top man and poor R/R options. It will be hard enough trying to drag people in when the CL final and GP are both on TV.

Unless they could get Riss or Palm Toft there wouldn’t appear anyone else worth having. My money is on R/R unfortunately which could end up as a battering and the return fixture then becoming meaningless.

Does that make him any worse than a former Glasgow rider was was accused of knocking another rider’s wife off?

It would be a shame if the Champions League Final was abandoned because the trainer had lost his magic sponge and nobody had a spare one!

Ah, the Leicester track…crap… no passing…quality of racing etc, seem to recall this may have come up before. The best riders have never made an excuse for the BP track (which does seem to be getting better), attack it and find racing lines to pass. That goes for home and away riders. On the subject of the Scunny stream presenters, I watched the Lions league match recently (didn’t bother with tonight) and found them to be quite embarrassing. I accept that they may be doing it for free, fair play on that front, but they really need to up their game before they could be considered anything near amateurs. Most important thing about tonight of course is young Joe’s injury. Fingers crossed for him.

How about third rule. 3. A guest rider cannot be called Chris Harris. (That should do it).

The management have now looked into this with a view to combining the sun break and interval which will take place after heat 15 to avoid delays. Personally I think the twins have out grown this level of the sport. Their only gain will be experience at other tracks fielding teams at both NDL and Championship level. Even when they do race at these tracks, if they are going to progress, are other NDL level riders going to push them to the next level?

Would have settled for a point before the meeting so delighted with 4 points. Whilst the Lions will be one of the stronger teams to visit Edinburgh this season, their reliance on Masters and Pickering will most likely cost them a play off place. Other than this pair, they only had one other race winner tonight. The writing is on the wall (whatever that means) when you need to use tactical substitutions at home. A pat on the back for Bickley tonight as it is highly unlikely that Rowe would have scored more than him.

A bit off subject, but I was wondering how many of these ‘Rider Replacement’ guys are related to the Norwegian Reidar Eide who rode in England in the early seventies?

Rowe absent again. Does anyone know what his 'illness' is and how long he will be unavailable for?

Can anyone shed light on Kennett’s absence? Is he actually injured? If, as some have suggested on this forum, he may have just been used for one meeting to gain a guest facility, the situation stinks. Fair play to the Plymouth riders for their performances to date, but they are using guests for someone who is unlikely to sustain his current average if he were to continue racing. At what point does the guest (or R/R) facility get reviewed or expire if he is not actually injured?

So much for the rumour about Rowe’s departure. Would love to see him bang a few points in tonight.

Maybe, but his priority is his home track. I’d like to think that we’ll stick with him although the gaffer is not renowned for his patience. That said, what are the replacement options?