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POOLE have a major doubt over recent signing Piotr Pawlicki ahead of the Elite League Grand Final next week.The Polish youngster crashed in Sweden on Tuesday and the Pirates are anxiously awaiting news on a reported shoulder injury.Promoter Matt Ford said: This could be a devastating blow for us but my immediate thoughts are with young Piotr.We will have to wait and see how serious his shoulder is but if our worst fears are proven it really will make retaining the league title far more difficult for us.
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SWINDON boss Alun Rossiter is hoping a packed Abbey will help turn up the heat ahead of Swindons Elite League title run-in.Admission prices for Thursdays play-off semi final second leg with Birminghamwhich sees Swindon lead by a staggering 20 pointshave been slashed with adults at 10, and Rossiter wants to send out a message to Poole who have already booked their place in the Grand Final.Rossiter said: Obviously we are confident ahead of Thursday. We went to Birmingham in a confident mood on Monday and did a magnificent job but we will show them respect even though were 20-points up.I believe we have what it takes to beat Poole over two legs. As I say we have still got to be respectful to Birmingham. We need to put this to bed and then we can think about going after Poole.
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SCUNTHORPE boss Richard Hollingsworth has described the forthcoming weekend as the biggest in the clubs history.The Scorpions race three Premier League play-off fixtures in three days with trips to Edinburgh and Workington followed up by a home clash with the Comets on Sunday evening.Hollingsworth said: It really is no exaggeration to say that this is the biggest weekend in the 41-year history of this club. By the end of Sunday, we will either know or have a very good idea, of whether we have done enough to qualify for the play-off final.We take tremendous momentum into Fridays match, having won not only last Sunday, but the previous seven league matches before that, including a win at Edinburgh on the final day of August.(SPEEDWAY 4)
STOKE warmed up for the play-offs with a 48-42 away win at Kings Lynn in their final regular National League fixture of the season.The Potters, who face Dudley in the semi-finals next week, recovered from an early 6-12 deficit to take three points at the Norfolk Arena with Ashley Birks top-scoring on 14 points and ex-Young Star James Cockle adding ten.Manager Malcolm Vasey said: Although many will see this match as academic it wasnt as far as I or the team were concerned because we all felt it was important to gain a little bit of momentum with the play-off meetings with Dudley next week coming up. This will certainly give us some confidence going into those meetings against the Heathens next week.Everyone got amongst the points, and I have to give a special mention to our reserves who did extremely well on a track they are not familiar with and both Lee (Geary) and Liam (Rumsey) gained points by making some good passes.(FIXTURES)
THURSDAY OCTOBER 4:SKY SPORTS ELITE LEAGUE PLAY-OFF SEMI-FINAL 2nd leg: Swindon v Birmingham 7.30PREMIER LEAGUE KO CUP S/F 1st leg: Ipswich v Edinburgh 7.30PREMIER CHALLENGE TROPHY: Redcar v Glasgow 7.30, Sheffield v Rye House 7.45
FRIDAY OCTOBER 5:PREMIER LEAGUE PLAY-OFF: Edinburgh v Scunthorpe 7.30, Somerset v Leicester 7.30
SATURDAY OCTOBER 6:PREMIER LEAGUE PLAY-OFF: Leicester v Newcastle 7.30, Workington v Scunthorpe 7pmPREMIER CHALLENGE TROPHY: Rye House v Ipswich 7pm
SUNDAY OCTOBER 7:PREMIER LEAGUE PLAY-OFF: Newcastle v Leicester 7pm, Scunthorpe v Workington 6pmPREMIER CHALLENGE TROPHY: Glasgow v Redcar 4pmNATIONAL LEAGUE: Buxton v Kings Lynn 3pmNATIONAL LEAGUE KO CUP FINAL 1st leg: Mildenhall v Dudley 4.30
