KING's Lynn's Aussie ace Darcy Ward admits his enforced injury lay-off was a blessing in disguise ahead of tonight's home Premier League return against Berwick (7.

KING's Lynn's Aussie ace Darcy Ward admits his enforced injury lay-off was a blessing in disguise ahead of tonight's home Premier League return against Berwick (7.45pm).

Ward posted paid 10 in the table-topping Stars' 46-44 weekend win at Newport on his comeback from a fractured ankle.

The teenager then finished just outside the podium places behind Team GB starlet Tai Woffinden in Monday's Gary Peterson Memorial meeting at Wolverhampton.

Ward is now fit and firing again after taking British speedway by storm before ankle and back injuries stalled his early season progress.

“To be honest, before I crashed I was starting to get a bit annoyed with speedway and everything with the injuries was starting to get me down a little,” said Ward.

“It was good to have a break and come back fresh. I'd had a problem with the back and I don't know if that was caused by the amount of meetings I was doing. Everything around me wasn't really helping as well but I'm definitely ready to go now.”

Ward was excluded from his opening ride in Wales after a first bend spill before hitting back to help anchor another Stars' away-day success.

“I was more worried about the bikes and having them ready than any worries over the ankle,” said the 17-year-old. “Maybe in my first ride I felt the ankle a bit because I wasn't as sharp as I would have liked to be off the start but after that you wouldn't have felt I had been off the bike for three weeks or so. I hadn't had any practice laps around our place so it was literally just turn up and straight in.”

Ward notched his first Lynn maximum against Berwick in a May Saddlebow Premier League KO Cup quarter-final win. The Aussie insists his side can not let up in their bid for a second tier treble, with Rob Lyon's men five points clear at the top and in the later stages of both cups.

“We just want to keep winning and, for me, I just want to keep scoring some points,” he said. “We've managed to get ourselves in position to do well now but we don't want to reach the play-offs and then let it all go. We have to keep going.

“I've got the World U21s later in the year but I'm not even thinking about that - it's too far away. I'd had a few Elite bookings before the injuries and I'd love to do some more before the end of the season but that depends if anyone rings me up. Right now, I just want to stay injury-free and keep riding well.”

Lynn's promotion have announced all children aged 15 and under will be admitted free of charge this evening to help mark 80 years of speedway in the UK. Adult admission is �12 with other concessions �9.

Stars: 1 Darcy Ward, 2 Linus Eklof, 3 Emiliano Sanchez, 4 Chris Schramm, 5 Tomas Topinka, 6 Kozza Smith, 7 Jan Graversen.

Bandits: 1 Josef Franc, 2 Frank Facher, 3 Paul Clews, 4 Stanislaw Burza, 5 Michal Makovsky, 6 Tero Aarnio, 7 tbc.