PETERBOROUGH face the Coventry Bees on Monday live at the Showground on Sky Sports for the first time this year, in a match sponsored by Elite Sponsors Stanair.

PETERBOROUGH face the Coventry Bees on Monday live at the Showground on Sky Sports for the first time this year, in a match sponsored by Elite Sponsors Stanair.

This will be the third time we have faced the Bees at the Showground this year and with one victory each the match is finely poised and looks set to be another cracking affair.

Coventry have recently re declared and after initial problems have now had their team including Scott Nicholls accepted by the BSPA, however the downside is that they have been forced to release hot reserve Jordan Frampton to accommodate the switch.

Aside from Nicholls, Coventry has arguably three other heat leaders in Chris Harris, Rory Schlein and Edward Kennett, with the main body of the team being completed by Filip Sitera. Ricky Wells who started off on an assessed 4.00 point average at the start of the year has now dropped to a reserve berth following the recent release of 2009 Green Sheet Averages.

Doubling up reserves for the Bees are now Josh Auty and Robert Ksiezak, with Auty confirmed as Wells partner on Monday.

Panthers meanwhile are again at full strength and this match comes hot on the heels of a solid team victory over Lakeside, and with this match being the last home match until the 25th June owing to the annual staging of the East of England Show the Panthers will be extra keen to maintain their recent good form and stay in contention at the top of the league table.

Ales Dryml said: “It will be a hard match next week but we are riding very well as a team, the track surprised us a little bit against Lakeside probably more than the Hammers, we started with our normal set ups and they didn't work and it took us a few heats to get it right, I think we need to start a bit earlier against Coventry. Of course it helps if the track is the same every week, that makes it a lot easier and we can bang the set ups from the first heat but we thought we knew tonight, but as it turned out we didn't”.

Team Manager Trevor Swales said: “ This again is a must win meeting for us although its not going to be any easier although easy matches seem to be non existent this year, Scott Nicholls is obvious struggling for confidence in the Grand Prix's, but it's a completely different thing in league matches as he proved last week”.

“I don't think the balance of their side is better now than it was before, Frampton was scoring good points home and away but who knows, Bomber is now coming good and Schlein knows the quickest way around the Showground, we certainly cannot sit back and give them a good start, or we will be playing catch up yet again, we have to hit the ground running on Monday from heat 1 onwards”.

Promoter Mick Bratley said: “This meeting will be won or lost in the battle between second strings and reserves. I feel we have a lot more quality in those positions and I expect us to win the meeting. Whether we get 2 or 3 league points is in the balance though. I am sure it will be a great spectacle for the TV viewers though.”

Owner Rick Frost said: “This meeting looks set to be a cracker between two very good sides but with our team in top form, home advantage and track conditions getting better with each meeting, I'm confident we can take the points. However we must gate better than we have been lately to ensure the win”.

Teams in alphabetical order (Green Sheet Averages in brackets)

Peterborough Panthers

Henning BAGER (4.63), Kenneth BJERRE (7.93), Ales DRYML (4.53), Kenneth HANSEN (3.57), Niels Kristian IVERSEN (8.21) Captain, Mads KORNELIUSSEN (7.00) & Claus VISSING (4.47).

Team Managers Trevor & Wayne SWALES

Coventry Bees

Josh AUTY (3.00), Chris HARRIS (7.61) Captain, Edward KENNETT (8.43), Scott NICHOLLS (8.98), Rory SCHLEIN (7.43), Filip SITERA (4.00) & Ricky WELLS (3.00).

Team Managers Peter OAKES & Colin PRATT.