Tonight sees Mildenhall Fen Tigers first visit to Lakeside since 1989, as they go in search of valuable away points in their hunt for one of the four play-off berths.

They do so with 15-year-old British 500cc Youth Champion Drew Kemp making his first appearance for the club since signing up as the Fen Tigers first signing for next season.

A track that is notoriously difficult for away teams to win at the Fen Tigers will be all out to end their opponents’ unbeaten home record this season. In fact the level of difficulty is provided by the impressive stat that none of the eight visitors to date have managed even a point from their trip to Essex.

However the Fen Tigers travel in good heart having ‘hammered’ the Hammers by 21 points in the corresponding fixture at West Row only last weekend. A similar standard of performance could see the Fen Tigers do what no one else has done to date.

Following tonight’s meeting it is back home at West Row on Sunday (3pm start) as Stoke are the visitors in an equally important League fixture.

With the ongoing drawn-out KO Cup tie between the two sides this will be the third visit by the Potters in the last couple of months and the Fen Tigers will be looking for a hat-trick of home wins.

Alex Spooner steps into the vacant reserve berth for the Fen Tigers on Sunday.

Kevin Jolly is looking forward to a good weekend for his side: “Lakeside is a difficult place to go without doubt, but if we can get a fast start with our top boys all on their game there is no telling what we can achieve,” he said.

“They are powerful at the top of their order but have to bring in replacements for the absent Morley and Wajknecht and I feel there is some weakness in their lower order we hope to be able to exploit. I have to be reasonably confident following Sunday’s performance and now is the time to make a real push into the top four.

“Sunday is a must win, we cannot afford to lose at home in any of our final four home meetings. On all form lines that won’t happen against Stoke but I can assure everyone that we will not be complacent in our preparation for this meeting and afford Stoke our full respect, as I said though, we must win!”

Teams

Tonight at Lakeside

Lakeside: Steve Boxall, Nick Laurence, Tom Bacon, Alfie Bowtell, Paul Hurry, Alex Spooner, Connor Locke.

Mildenhall: Connor Mountain, Luke Ruddick, Jon Armstrong, Jordan Jenkins, Dan Halsey, Danno Verge, Drew Kemp.

Sunday at Mildenhall

Mildenhall: Jon Armstrong (C), Danny Halsey, Jordan Jenkins, Connor Mountain, Luke Ruddick, Alex Spooner and Danno Verge

Stoke: Tony Atkin (C), Paul Burnett, Ryan Terry-Daley, Mitchell Davey, Lee Dicken, Luke Priest and Shaun Tedham