The last thing Peterborough Panthers' team boss wants is a silent night!
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Panthers travel to Sheffield for a Premiership fixture tonight (Thursday) before rounding off their final season at the East of England Arena before hosting Monday night’s return (7.30pm) against the title-chasing Yorkshire club.
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Hide AdLyon has been able to name a full strength side for the visit to Owlerton and admits: “I’ve had a few quiet trips home this year, but hopefully it won’t be a silent journey as it’s probably the strongest line-up all year since heat one of the first match of the season when Nicki Pedersen crashed and that was it, we never saw him again!”
Newly appointed captain Chris Harris will lead the side with Russian Vadim Tarasenko expected to return after missing the last match so that he could be with his wife at the birth of their second child.
A rejuvenated Lyon is looking for four wins from the last six Premiership matches to ensure the Panthers avoid the wooden spoon for a second successive summer. They are now only two points behind second bottom King’s Lynn, but have, on paper, a far easier run-in.
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Hide AdAdded Lyon: “Now that we have a more stable team we are going to aim to win four out of six and finish off the season with a bang to give our fans something to shout about.
“If we do that we are going to be above King’s Lynn in the table and a bit closer to Ipswich and Sheffield which would make it a bit more respectable at end of the season, and the end of the Panthers at Alwalton.
“If we have lost, I tend to be quiet on the way home and there have been a few of those trips this year.
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Hide Ad“My mood depends on how we lost. The match against Wolverhampton at home a couple of weeks ago was dreadful ,but the one against Ipswich earlier this month wasn’t bad because there was much more fight from the team and we could easily have won that one.
Lyon does believe Panthers will surprise a few people against the Tigers who need points to stay ahead of Ipswich in the race for the final play-off spot, claiming: “I go there with a lot more enthusiasm and hope than I had in the previous meeting this year when we lost by 14 points even though the meeting was abandoned after 10 races.
“We have a decent side. If they all click we will give Sheffield some problems.”
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Hide AdPanthers will hope to restrict the Tigers to a slim lead that can be overhauled in Monday’s return encounter and newcomer Patryk Wojdylo could be the key.
The Poles failed to score on his debut last month but followed that up with a head-turning performance in his second match against Ipswich when he top-scored with a dozen points.
“You could never judge him on that first night,” claims Lyon. “He’d never seen the place, he’d never set foot on the track let alone had four laps on it. He then brought a different engine with him from Poland and what a difference.
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Hide Ad“I’m sure Sheffield will suit him and then it’s a run of home matches. He looks a prospect as you don’t pass the former World Champion Jason Doyle from the back without having something about you.
“He’s a good lad and it will be interesting to see him, Tarasenko and Chris Harris is the same team for the first time.”
For Panthers fans it will be a rare chance to watch Britain’s most successful rider, Tai Woffinden, in action on their doorstep on Monday.
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Hide AdThe three-times World Champion, and skipper of the silver medal winning Great Britain World Cup side last month, has joined the Tigers on a 28-day contract as cover for injury victim Jack Holder.
It will be Woffinden’s first appearance at the Showground since he scored 14 points there with Wolverhampton in 2013.