Scunthorpe Scorpions will look to maintain their excellent home form and open up an advantage over Poole Pirates in the Championship table. The Scorpions visit Wimborne Road having been nudged off top spot on points difference by the Dorset club last Wednesday, as Poole beat Edinburgh and Scunthorpe lost to Oxford. But the Lincolnshire club just edged the aggregate point against the Cheetahs to stay level on points after Wednesday's meetings.
The Scorpions come into tonight’s meeting off the back of a trip to Berwick, while their hosts have not had a match since their defeat to Oxford, though both sides will be looking to build momentum into the end of the season. Poole’s home form is, as usual, superb, with five wins from five meetings in the league so far, and two by more than 30 points.
It was by 32 points that Pirates beat the Scorpions when they came to town in the BSN Series earlier this season, as Poole romped to a 61-29 victory back in April, thanks to a paid maximum from Cooper Rushen in just his third senior appearance. The sides drew at the Eddie Wright Raceway, meaning a Poole victory of any description will be enough to guarantee them the aggregate point.
Guest Edward Kennet caught the eye on that occasion as he scored 12+2, while Richard Lawson and Zach Cook returned paid ten and paid nine respectively. That pair of regular Pirates were at their dominant best last week against Edinburgh as they scored a paid maximum and a full maximum respectively, and they’ll need to be on top form to combat Josh Pickering in the Scunthorpe side.
Promoter Danny Ford said: "I think that's going to be a really interesting meeting. "Obviously, we're top, but only on points difference. "Scunthorpe are a very good team and they're led by the number one rider in the league in Josh Pickering, who is in absolutely outstanding form, and it's going to be a real, real challenge for Rich and Zach, which they haven't had for a while. "I think he's going to push them really, really hard, which will be interesting to see. "It's always entertaining when he's in town, that's for sure, all thrills. "We're confident in our home form. "I think [the Edinburgh] result is probably better than what a few of our previous results have been based on the fact we didn't actually ride at our best and we still beat Edinburgh by 14. "So I feel very confident going into that fixture against Scunthorpe. "They are very dangerous, particularly at number one, but I'm confident if we ride to our ability, we can get a decent win over them."
Expected teams: Poole Pirates: 1, Richard Lawson; 2, Will Cairns; 3, Lewis Kerr; 4, Cooper Rushen; 5, Zach Cook (c); 6, (Guest); 7, Kyle Newman. Scunthorpe Scorpions: 1, Josh Pickering; 2, Connor Mountain; 3, Jacob Hook; 4, Michael Palm Toft; 5, Luke Harrison; 6, Ryan Ingram; 7, Nathan Ablitt.
Scunthorpe Scorpions are currently 5th in the England National League, with 82 points from 46 games, recent form LDWLD. They have scored 77 goals and conceded 62, with a goal difference of +15. They are 26 points behind leaders York in the title race and have a recent form of 1W-2D-2L (LWLDD). Their next fixture is against Southend, who are 6th in the table, on August 15th.
