Peterborough Panthers seek a home hat-trick, but Iversen ruled out

The Crendon Panthers put in arguably their best display of the season a fortnight ago when they defeated the Tigers 53-37 to not only take the victory but also the aggregate point.

And three more points are up for grabs in this Round 2 fixture with Panthers’ target more modest on this occasion as they were beaten by only six points in the reverse match at Owlerton last month.

Panthers will be without Niels-Kristian Iverson who has a neck and shoulder problem which he picked up in Denmark last week. Panthers will operare rider replacelemt for Iversen who could be back for Thursday’s home meeting with Leicester

Sheffield will travel with a much-changed side compared to the previous encounter on August 21.

That meeting saw former British Champion Adam Ellis fail to score, and he has now been released by the club along with Lewis Kerr, who has quickly been snapped up by Leicester.

The Tigers have brought in 2012 World Champion Chris Holder, who was linked with the Panthers over the winter, and experienced Danish racer Claus Vissing, with Holder’s younger brother Jack admitting defeat in his bid to get back to league racing. The Australian was clearly struggling with his injury during his brave second place at the British Grand Prix.

Another recent signing is Jason Edwards in the ‘Rising Star’ berth after Dan Gilkes suffered a broken wrist in his crash with Jordan Jenkins last month.

Polish star Tobiasz Musielak missed the Tigers’ last visit to Alwalton, but has been back in business since, then, scoring a paid maximum on Thursday as the South Yorkshire side booked their play-off place with a win over King’s Lynn.

But Tai Woffinden, who scored an incredible 18+1 on his last appearance at the Showground, crashed heavily in the British GP and is sidelined with a broken hand, with rider replacement in operation for the visitors at No.1.

Meanwhile Panthers skipper Chris Harris is one meeting away from becoming a World Champion as he leads the FIM Long Track series by one point heading into the decider at Muhldorf on September 17.

Harris finished third in Round 5 at Morizes on Saturday, one place behind his title rival Martin Smolinski, and the two are set for a dramatic head-to-head in Germany later this month.

Harris put in a thrilling display last week with 13+1 in the KO Cup win over Ipswich in his best home performance since returning to the club, having already racked up 16 in the 48-42 defeat at Sheffield.

Harris said: “Everyone is battling hard for their team-mate, and that’s all you can ask for – battling to the bitter end.

“I’m sure Monday night will be another tough one against Sheffield, and they will want to keep in form ahead of the play-offs, but we’ll have another go and hopefully get another win.”

PETERBOROUGH: Artem Laguta, Chris Harris, Vadim Tarasenko, Benjamin Basso, Niels-Kristian Iversen r/r, Ben Cook, Jordan Jenkins.

SHEFFIELD: Tai Woffinden r/r, Kyle Howarth, Chris Holder, Josh Pickering, Tobiasz Musielak, Claus Vissing, Jason Edwards.