Eagles test to keep Panthers hopes alive

Monday, July 23, 2012
2:51 PM

PETERBOROUGH go in search of their second home win in four days when they host Eastbourne tonight (7.30pm).

The Readypower Panthers came from behind to beat Wolverhampton 46-44 at the Showground on Thursday and now need another victory to keep their Elite League play-off hopes alive.

The Eagles reached the championship shoot-out final last season before being beaten over two-legs against Poole and are right in the mix again.

They currently occupy fourth position in the table ten-points clear of the seventh-placed Panthers – but with plenty of matches still left to be ridden it’s not a deficit that is insurmountable.

Both teams will be at full-strength, with the visitors tracking no less than three former Showground favourites in Joonas Kylmakorpi, Lewis Bridger and Lukas Dryml.

They also have hard-charging Russian Denis Gizatullin and fellow reserve Timo Lahti in decent form, with the latter putting nearly four-points on his season average.

For the Panthers Krzysztof Buczkowski and Norbert Kosciuch continue to impress since their re-introduction to the side at the beginning of June and skipper Kenneth Bjerre is finally showing the good league form that had deserted him earlier in the year.

Meanwhile, Michael Jepsen Jensen jets back into the UK fresh from Saturday’s victory in the first of the seven round World Under-21 Championship finals in Lonigo, Italy. The Dane finished level on 12-points with former Coventry rider Przemyslaw Pawlicki.

As for Monday, it won’t be a straightforward contest but it is one co-boss Jan Staechmann believes his side can win.

He said: “It certainly won’t be easy but it is a meeting we know we simply have to win.

“We also need to pick-up the maximum three-points after dropping one against Wolverhampton on Thursday – and I am confident we can do that.

“They have three ex-Panthers in their side so have more than a bit of track knowledge, but we have riders in good form at the Showground.

“We’re coming into the business end of the season now where the play-off race really hots up, so we need to make sure we don’t drop too many more points at home.”

PETERBOROUGH: Kenneth Bjerre, Oliver Allen, Michael Jepsen Jensen, Linus Sundström, Krzysztof Buczkowski, Richard Lawson, Norbert Kosciuch.

EASTBOURNE: Joonas Kylmakorpi, Lukas Dryml, Simon Gustafsson, Cameron Woodward, Lewis Bridger, Denis Gizatullin, Timo Lahti.