Make-or-break week for Scorpions

FLUIDAIR POWER Scunthorpe Scorpions need a minimum of four points from their two Premier League Play-Off meetings this week, to stand a chance of qualifying for the Grand Final.

The Scorpions travel to Somerset’s Oak Tree Arena, located near Burnham-On-Sea, on Wednesday evening, before entertaining the Ipswich Witches at the Eddie Wright Raceway on Friday evening (7.30pm).

Last Thursday saw an injury-hit Scunthorpe lose 35-57 at Ipswich, with Nicolai Klindt crashing out of the meeting, to join Ashley Birks and Ryan Douglas on the sidelines, all with scaphoid injuries.

24 hours later, Birks made a sensational return to action at the Eddie Wright Raceway, scoring paid 12, as Scunthorpe pipped Somerset 46-44 in a tight encounter to keep their dreams alive of a final place.

Scunthorpe promoter Rob Godfrey said: “We’re going to throw everything we’ve got at these two meetings this week. The results didn’t go quite the way we wanted them to last week; our regular lads went OK, but the guests struggled a bit.

“We need something from the meeting at Somerset; we have to pick up at least one league point. They haven’t conceded a point at home all season, but there’s still time for that to change. Ideally, we need a win there – we’ll go there with a positive attitude and see where that takes us.

“We’ll then know the size of our task for Friday’s meeting against Ipswich at the Eddie Wright Raceway. It could be that we need a knock up a big win.”

Klindt will be ruled out of action for the rest of the season, and at this stage, it seems unlikely that Douglas will make his return to action this week.

* Full team news to follow by the end of Tuesday evening, although it can be revealed that Kyle Newman, currently in fine form for both Poole and Plymouth and a former Somerset Rebel, has been booked as a guest for the Scorpions at Somerset on Wednesday.