FLYING Ryan Douglas admits that the Lions must bounce straight back to winning ways after a tough defeat at Redcar.
Leicester now face their return clash with the Teessiders at the Paul Chapman & Sons Arena tonight (Saturday) bidding instant revenge.
The Watling JCB Lions went down by six points at Redcar without injured ace Richie Worrall who broke his ankle just 24 hours earlier.
Now Douglas admits that the team need to find their winning mojo again. He said: “I think it’s always tough when you lose a rider of Richie’s calibre. Not forgetting that Jack Thomas has also recently taken a break from the sport.
“We’ve had a brilliant start to the season but this is another hurdle for us. I think it’s a massive home match against Redcar. We need to get back into the winning routine again.
“We struggled at times at their place on Friday night. But to be honest I felt we gave them a tough match, we just fell short in a couple of races.
“But we are still a good side and it will be good to get back on our home track after such a nightmare week for the boys.”
Douglas, 25, was excellent for the Watling JCB Lions at Redcar top scoring with 11 points, including two vital wins in the last two heats.
That helped to earn Leicester a crucial away point when it seemed unlikely they’d take anything from the difficult encounter on the road.
He added: “Redcar are a decent side at home. They have a strong top three. We came into the match a bit rocked by Richie’s injury. But we gave it a good go and it was good to get a point, that could be really important.
“We’ve now got to re-group a bit. That’s why winning at home to Redcar tonight is so vital. That will pick us all up big time.
“Then it’s down to Eastbourne on Sunday in the KO Cup before they are back at our place next Friday.
“It’s a massive week for the team. It’s not been the ideal preparation losing Richie and then at Redcar. But we’ll fightback that’s for sure.”
