Peterborough Panthers skipper backs team to overcome the 'massive blow' of losing their number one rider

Panthers skipper Hans Andersen leads teammate Jordan Jenkins in the meeting with Belle Vue. Photo: Jeff Davies.

Panthers were humbled 55-35 on their own track by Belle Vue on Monday, with the Aces continuing an incredible record at the Showground with their eighth win from their last nine visits.

Andersen won two races, but the departure of Pedersen has left Panthers horribly exposed at the top of the team.And that problem was exacerbated by the fact that Michael Palm Toft, who was expected to produce a decent points return as a guest, incredibly failed to score.

Andersen said: “It’s a massive blow to lose a rider of Nicki’s calibre.

“Whether you like him or not he’s a points-scoring machine, and various riders have a lot of respect for him, so much so they might even have lost a race just by seeing they were in the race with him.

“I can’t really comment on Nicki’s departure, but there’s always two sides of a story, and sometimes you can’t really tell the full truth.

“But I do have confidence in this team. We just need more time on track.”

“My own form has been okay. I would probably say I’m only at 60, maybe 70 per cent, at the moment because I still haven’t been on my bike a lot this season.

“I just need more track-time. I haven’t been able to practice because the weather has just been dreadful everywhere

“I’ve not been in a position where I could go to Australia and ride through the winter like some of these Belle Vue boys have!

“I do think it shows. I should be smoother on the bike, but time will tell.”

Panthers are back in action on Monday (April 24) with the return fixture at Belle Vue, and life gets no easier with trips to Sheffield and Wolverhampton to follow.

Whether or not they will have a new rider in place by then remains to be seen, but Andersen insists the team must remain positive.

He said: “We’ve got riders who are pretty good around Belle Vue, and Niels Iversen was super-fast there in the Peter Craven Memorial not long ago.

"We will go there thinking we can win, otherwise there’s no point in us going.”