Scorpions out to spoil Poole’s party
ATTIS INSURANCE Scunthorpe Scorpions will commence their Cab Direct Championship play-off matches at reigning champions Poole tonight (Wednesday) at 7.30pm.
Poole Pirates finished top of the standings and chose Scunthorpe (fourth) and Edinburgh (sixth) in their play-off group. The three teams will meet each other home and away, with the winners of the group progressing to the play-off final.
The full schedule for the fixtures in Group A are as follows:
WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 13: Poole v Scunthorpe 7.30pm (live on BSN)
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 15: Edinburgh v Scunthorpe 7.30pm (live on BSN)
SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 17: Scunthorpe v Edinburgh 5pm
WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 20: Poole v Edinburgh 7.30pm
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 22: Scunthorpe v Poole 7.30pm (live on BSN)
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 29: Edinburgh v Poole 7.30pm
The same scoring system applies in as regular matches, with two points for a win, one point for an aggregate victory, and Superheats to decide ties.
Group B consists of the three teams that Poole did not wish to face: Oxford (second), Glasgow (third) and Redcar (fifth).
Scorpions were placed fourth in the final Cab Direct Championship regular league standings, after Redcar lost at home to Glasgow on Sunday. Fourth place is Scunthorpe’s second-best finish at second tier level – only beaten by a second place in 2012; a season in which Scorpions went on to win the play-offs and the championship.
In the two regular league matches against Poole this season, Scunthorpe had two narrow defeats: 41-49 at Poole and 43-47 at Scunthorpe’s Eddie Wright Raceway. In contrast, Scorpions won 54-36 at Edinburgh and beat Monarchs by 51-39 at the EWR.
Scunthorpe team manager Dave Peet said: “I was a bit surprised when I heard that Poole had chosen us, to be honest. There are other teams that they’ve beaten by a higher aggregate score than us.
“We came close to Poole in both meetings. At one point, we were within two points on aggregate of them in our home match against them, having lost by just eight points down there. Taking at least three points off the Pirates, including the aggregate bonus point, will be one of the keys to our bid to reach the final.
“I’m quite happy with the teams we have in our group. The team finishing top had the advantage of selecting their opponents, but it also places a certain amount of pressure on that team not to get knocked out by one of the teams that you’ve selected! We don’t have that pressure, but Poole do.
“We’ll be out to make Poole regret putting the Attis Insurance Scorpions in their group and we can start that with a good performance at Wimborne Road. The lads know what’s required and they will all put a shift in.
“Our fixtures have panned out so that we have the two away meetings at Poole and Edinburgh, before they come to the Eddie Wright Raceway. We want a couple of positive performances on the road before we entertain Edinburgh at the EWR on Sunday and Poole a week on Friday. We’re up for this and I firmly believe we can reach the final.”
Expected teams for tonight (Wednesday):
Poole Pirates: 1. Richard Lawson, 2. Anders Rowe, 3. Ben Cook, 4. Zach Cook, 5. Steve Worrall, 6. Kyle Newman, 7. Joe Thompson.
Attis Insurance Scunthorpe Scorpions: 1. Ryan Douglas, 2. Simon Lambert (captain), 3. Connor Mountain, 4. Jake Allen, 5. Michael Palm Toft, 6. Drew Kemp, 7. Nathan Ablitt.
* ATTIS INSURANCE Scunthorpe Scorpions move onto Edinburgh on Friday, before they entertain the Monarchs at the Eddie Wright Raceway on Sunday (September 17, 5pm).
