Containment could be the order of the day for Peterborough Panthers in KO Cup semi-final at Ipswich

But whereas in the home meeting they were planning to track Grand Prix rider Max Fricke as a guest in their troubled No.1 berth, they look set to return to the rider replacement facility at Foxhall with all but one Premiership club in action on the night.

Panthers have the remainder of their regular line-up available, whilst the Witches hope to welcome back Erik Riss, with the German having been absent since early April due to a virus.

With the likes of Jason Doyle and Emil Sayfutdinov likely to dominate the race wins, Panthers will need to do a solid containing job in order to keep the tie alive for the second leg on a date to be confirmed.

They then have back-to-back Premiership matches against A47 rivals King’s Lynn – away on May 18 and at home on May 22 – which are already looking pivotal to their season.

Panthers co-promoter Carl Johnson has stressed the situation is far from ideal – but Panthers are still making every effort to bring in a credible full-time replacement for Pedersen.

He said: “Of the riders available, some are too expensive, others are not up to the standard we need, and others just do not want to ride in the UK.

“We are still trying as we do not want to continue with guests or rider replacement.”

IPSWICH: Jason Doyle, Erik Riss, Danny King, Keynan Rew, Emil Sayfutdinov, Danyon Hume, Joe Thompson.

PETERBOROUGH: Nicki Pedersen r/r, Hans Andersen, Benjamin Basso, Richie Worrall, Niels-Kristian Iversen, Ben Cook, Jordan Jenkins.