STOKE travel to Devon to face the Plymouth Gladiators in their quarter-final first leg meeting at the Coliseum.

The A.R. Richards Potters welcome back Tom Perry for the clash after he missed the defeat at Leicester while Arran Butcher comes in at reserve replacing Corban Pavitt who is taking school exams.

The Gladiators have been doing some track work after last weeks meeting against Cradley was postponed and Potters team manager Adam Isherwood hopes the Potters can take advantage of this saying “With the track being worked on it is likely to be an away track for the home riders as well as us and hopefully we will be able to adapt better.”
The home side have had to revert back to their original one to seven after new signing Henry Atkins got injured but they will be led into action by former Potter Ben Wilson who spearheads the side and he will be given solid support from Nathan Stoneman who doubles up with Birmingham in the Championship. Supporting the duo will be Scott Campos who was one of the riders being replaced and will be out to prove a point to the home promotion and Richard Andrews who has been riding well this season with another rider who was due to be replaced completing the top five in former Stoke rider Adam Extance. At reserve the Gladiators have Adam Sheppard and Jamie Bursill competing their side.

Potters rider Connor Coles commented “We will be going there to win as we always do in any meeting hopefully we can come away with an advantage, but if they do go in front we will be looking to keep it as close as we can for the second leg at Loomer Road on Saturday night.”

PLYMOUTH: Ben Wilson, Adam Extance, Scott Campos, Richard Andrews (Captain), Nathan Stoneman, Adam Sheppard, Jamie Bursill
STOKE: Tom Perry (Captain), Shelby Rutherford, Joe Lawlor, Luke Priest, Connor Coles, Arran Butcher, Joe Alcock