Scorpions aim for victory at Rye House

SCUNTHORPE promoter Rob Godfrey insists that Henderson Insurance Scunthorpe Scorpions will be aiming for a victory in their away meeting at Rye House this evening (Monday, 7.30pm).

It’s Scunthorpe’s penultimate fixture of the season, with the last meeting coming at Newcastle this coming Sunday (September 25).

Berwick’s Thomas Jorgensen comes in at No 1 for Josh Auty, who is still ruled out by illness. The Dane spent four years at Scunthorpe (2011-2014) and is a big fans’ favourite with Scorpions’ fans.

Carl Wilkinson remains sidelined after sustaining rib damage in last Friday’s Coventry v King’s Lynn Elite League meeting, and Sheffield’s Josh Bates is his replacement. Bates is another former Scorpion and is the current British Under-21 Champion.

With Josh Bailey ruled out for the season with a collarbone injury, Scorpions also track a third guest in Nathan Stoneman, the recent scorer of a 21-point maximum for National League Isle Of Wight at Coventry. He also top scored for the Wight Warriors at NL action at Rye House yesterday evening (Sunday).

Godfrey says: “It’s coming to the end of the season, we’ve completed our home meetings, and we’re not going to finish bottom.

“On the face of it, we’ve got little to go for in this meeting, but we think we’ve got a chance to take a win and we’re going to give it a go, and we’ve booked our guests accordingly, so that we’re as strong as we would be with our full team.

“At Plymouth on Saturday, we were seriously weakened at reserve, with rider replacement at No 1 scoring just 3 paid 4. Despite that, the lads rallied to grab a point from that meeting.

“We know Thomas Jorgensen will be a quality guest and we know Josh Bates will be a quality guest. Add in our four fit lads, who scored 38 (paid 40) points between them at Plymouth, plus a young lad in Nathan Stoneman who has hit form recently, and I think we have every chance of coming anyway from Rye House with something to show for our efforts.”

Expected teams for tonight:

Rye House Rockets: 1. Edward Kennett, 2. Kasper Lykke, 3. Rider replacement for Cameron Heeps, 4. Leigh Lanham, 5. Stuart Robson, 6. Rob Branford, 7. Ben Morley.

Henderson Insurance Scunthorpe Scorpions: 1. Thomas Jorgensen (guest), 2. Michael Palm Toft, 3. Lewis Kerr, 4. Fritz Wallner (pictured), 5. Ryan Douglas, 6. Josh Bates (guest), 7. Nathan Stoneman (guest).