SHEFFIELD head to Leicester on Monday (September 22, 7.30pm) where they know an accumulation of 44 points or more would see them reach the 2025 ROWE Motor Oil Premiership Grand Final.

The Tru7 Group Tigers will arrive at the Hydroscand Arena with a three point advantage following their 46-43 home win over the Lions on Thursday night.

The Owlerton outfit displayed several examples of grit and determination to race into a 14 point lead, but the visitors headed back to the East Midlands boosted by belief following a run of three late straight advantages and also massively benefitted from an extremely questionable refereeing decision in Heat 14.

That has made the Tigers’ task more difficult than it was looking at one stage, but captain Josh Pickering is looking to draw inspiration from his side’s overall performance across the first 12 heats of the first leg as well as their wonderful away victory at table toppers Ipswich in their final fixture before the play-offs.

“Our backs might be against the wall a little bit but we’ve battled on all year and we’ve got results when sometimes people don’t expect us to,” Pickering said.

“Not many predicted us to go to Ipswich the other week and beat them at home with their full strength side.

“We’re going into Heat One at Leicester with a three point lead - and a lead is a lead, we could be in a much worse situation.

“There’s still 15 heats of racing to go, we’ve got plenty to race for and we’ll be doing everything we can.”

Nick Morris has been ruled out of the clash following his heavy Heat 14 spill on Thursday night.

Club bosses have worked hard to secure the services of Polish World Cup winner Maciej Janowski, who is good friends and former team-mates with Chris Holder - and the pair will be partnered together in the engine room of the side.

LEICESTER: Max Fricke, Luke Becker, Ryan Douglas, Kyle Howarth, Sam Masters, Drew Kemp, Joe Thompson.
SHEFFIELD: Jack Holder, Leon Flint, Chris Holder, Maciej Janowski, Josh Pickering, Anders Rowe, Jye Etheridge.