Peterborough Panthers frustration at Friday fixture changes

The city club’s trip to Lakeside for a KO Cup quarter-final first leg next Friday (July 27) has been axed along with a league visit to Workington the following week (August 3).

Panthers owner Ged Rathbone has stressed the two cancellations are beyond the control of the club’s involved and has apologised to any supporters who have already made plans.

There has been no official comment from the sport’s authorities as to why a number of Friday meetings are not being allowed to go ahead, although speculation on social media suggests it is due to protests from Scunthorpe, who have struggled to find guests while suffering from injury problems.

Rathbone said: “We have riders travelling in from Denmark who pre-book flights well in advance. Therefore because this meeting has been postponed to try to ease the pressure for someone else, it comes at a cost to them.

“We also have emails from supporters who have already planned breaks and booked hotels – and once again they have been let down through no fault of our own.

“It has to be a top priority to look after the fans. They pay the wages at the end of the day and we can’t keep expecting them to change their plans for no good reason.”

There are no new dates for those two Panthers meetings as yet. The club have also been drawn against Lakeside in the semi-final of the SGB Championship Shield with those clashes also still to be arranged.