COVENTRY head to Eastbourne on Saturday for the first leg of their National League play-off semi-final (7.30pm).
The Europress Bees will be looking to keep things as close as possible ahead of the return fixture at Leicester on Sunday at 4pm.
The Eagles boast an unbeaten home record this season and Bees’ results there so far in 2018, with defeats of 18 and 20 points in KO Cup and league matches respectively, were far from the biggest results recorded by the Arlington side who are historically tough to beat on their own circuit.
Eastbourne’s last home meeting saw them beat Kent 52-38 to book a place in the Cup Final, and that kind of margin would certainly give Bees a chance bearing in mind they beat the South coast side 51-39 in their opening home league match back in April.
Both teams are at full strength for Saturday’s fixture although Eastbourne’s Ethan Spiller is unavailable on Sunday, when they will operate rider-replacement.
Bees have Luke Harris back in the top five under the new October averages, exchanging places with Jamie Halder, and Harris forms a middle-order pairing with skipper Jon Armstrong as Luke Ruddick switches to the No.5 position.
Coventry manager Martyn Macdonald said: “As far as I’m concerned, just making the play-offs is a massive achievement, and now we’ll see what we can do.
“Nobody would have expected us to overcome and finish above Birmingham, who are a very strong club, and for us to get in with a top three who most would have expected to be in the play-offs is a big thing for us.
“We obviously know that we’re heading to Eastbourne as underdogs, but I think we’ve turned up at few tracks this season like that and given it a really good go.
“Anything is possible, but we have to catch Eastbourne on a slightly off-day because they’ve been very consistent at home this year.
“Teams have been losing there by around 20 points on a regular basis, and realistically a good result for us there – other than a win – would be to come away maybe 12 points down, which wouldn’t be beyond overcoming in the second leg.”
EASTBOURNE: Georgie Wood, Jason Edwards, Mark Baseby, Ethan Spiller, Tom Brennan, Charley Powell, Charlie Brooks. COVENTRY: Connor Mountain, Danny Phillips, Luke Harris, Jon Armstrong, Luke Ruddick, Ryan MacDonald, Jamie Halder.
