MEETING PREVIEW: Must-win meeting for city racers

Former Panthers star Ryan Fisher is in the Edinburgh team.

Panthers entertain Edinburgh Monarchs at the East of England Showground (5pm) in a crucial clash of two sets of Premier League play-off hopefuls.

Third-placed Panthers will take to the track one place and one point above Edinburgh in the standings and Johnson has billed it as a ‘must-win’ clash.

He said: “This is a meeting we simply have to win to keep ourselves right where we need to be in the league table.

“Edinburgh had a tough start to the season, but they’ve come on strong lately and they possess plenty of riders who can get round the Showground quickly.

“We need to make sure that doesn’t happen by bossing them from one to seven.

“We’ve already slipped up too many times at home and we can’t afford another loss on our own track.”

Captain Ulrich Ostergaard has been passed fit to face the Monarchs despite suffering shoulder and knee pain following a spill in the club’s 57-33 defeat at table-topping Somerset on Friday night.

Number one Craig Cook also returns after being unavailable for the trip to the South-West due to an Elite League fixture list.

He faces an Edinburgh side he spearheaded to a stack of honours, including back-to-back Premier League titles, in recent seasons.

The visitors are also spearheaded by a man who raced in the World Cup Final last weekend as Australian ace Sam Masters fills their number one berth.

American charger Ryan Fisher, who has also on duty in the World Cup, is a familiar face to Peterborough fans after racing for the club in both the Elite League and Premier League in recent times.

TEAMS

PANTHERS: Craig Cook, Emil Grondal, Zdenek Holub, Nikolaj Busk Jakobsen, Ashley Morris, Ulrich Ostergaard, Tom Perry.

EDINBURGH: Dan Bewley, Max Clegg, Ryan Fisher, Sam Masters, Erik Riss, Mark Riss, Kevin Wolbert