Peterborough Panthers require immediate and urgent improvement

The reigning champions have lost all three of their league fixtures so far, including thumping home and away defeats to Belle Vue who look primed to make a real title challenge after last season’s Grand Final defeat.

During those matches in particular, Panthers looked a world away from the side which marched so gloriously to the crown in 2021, underlining just how quickly fortunes can change in sport.

And whilst the schedule is still in its early stages, Lyon is mindful of the fact that there are only 20 matches in total with which to secure enough points to reach the top four and the play-offs.

He said: “We’ve got to rebuild. It’s three matches in and no points, so we’ve got to do something.“We need to sit down and think about things, because this is not what we’re about. We’re a better team than that.“We’ve got a little while now, so we need to reflect, and work on what we need to do to put things right – we need to do that for our fans.

“We were superb last year and we’ve got pretty much the same team, and we don’t turn into a bad team overnight.

“There’s no other way other than to keep fighting, but we certainly need to put it right.”

Panthers are joint bottom of the Premiership with King’s Lynn, but the Stars have only competed in one meeting. Belle Vue are top with eight points from three meetings.

Panthers have yet to publicly discuss whether they might contemplate team changes, but should they do so, the window for that opens after they have completed five league matches.

That takes them into June, with a trip to King’s Lynn on May 30 followed by home and away clashes with last year’s semi-final opponents Wolverhampton.

Before that, Lyon has to select two of his top four riders to compete in the opening round of the new Premiership Pairs competition.

One meeting is scheduled to take place at every track with Panthers hosting the opener on May 23, featuring pairings from all six clubs.