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Tonight, the Belle Vue Aces welcome Poole Pirates to Kirkmanshulme Lane in the first leg of the Elite League play-off final.
The Aces, led by skipper Scott Nicholls, have had an amazing turnaround this season, and made their way to the final after overcoming Swindon Robins over two legs.
As for the current Champions Poole, they’ve been in contention for most of the season, and were awarded their place in the final by beating Coventry Bees in a dramatic second leg at Wimborne Road.
And despite the Aces making their first final appearance in ten years, Nicholls is confident his side can cap their final appearance at the stadium with an impressive result.
He said: “It’s a massive turnaround from last season. Whichever way you look at it, we’ve had a successful year and right now we’ve everything to gain, and nothing to lose.
“It’s been our plan since the start of the season to qualify for the play-offs. This is where we wanted to be and we knew we had the team on paper that was capable of achieving that.
“At one stage it looked like it wasn’t going to happen for us but we maintained our determination and clawed our way into the top four as underdogs; a label I don’t believe really suits us. But if that’s the view, we’re quite happy to bear that label.”
Both sides have a full strength side available, with Matej Zagar returning for Belle Vue and Dakota North returning for the Pirates.
Poole promoter Matt Ford said: “We need to go there with belief and whilst we haven’t won there this year we shouldn’t forget that we did gain a consolation point on our first visit.
“If we can ride like we did that night then it will keep us within touching distance of them and will make Wednesday night a thrilling meeting.”
