BIRMINGHAM’s bid to avoid bottom spot in the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership can be majorly boosted when they host fellow strugglers Oxford on Monday (July 21, 7.30pm).
The Curtis Sport Brummies remain in seventh place, but can close the gap on the sixth placed Spires with another victory in the Second City.
Last time out at Perry Barr, Birmingham beat King’s Lynn 49-41 to secure a second success in three home meetings.
Meanwhile, Oxford have conceded the most race points in this year’s top-flight to date and have also managed a total of just three wins in the league – ironically however, all three of those have come against the Brummies.
Birmingham are just two points behind the Spires in the standings and three are on the line on Monday with the visitors leading 62-28 on aggregate.
Team Manager Chris Adams said: “We’re not going to be approaching this one any differently as such and I won’t be putting any pressure on the riders.
“But it is an important meeting in the sense that we haven’t got a boat load of fixtures left now and we want to pick up as many points as we can between now and the end of the season.
“Even more so with it being Birmingham’s last year, we don’t want to finish bottom of the league and we know another win on Monday night could go a long way to making sure that doesn’t happen.”
With Ben Barker still recovering from an emergency appendix operation, Birmingham have booked Scunthorpe’s Zaine Kennedy to guest at No.6.
Oxford head to Perry Barr with a patched-up side but still include former Polish World Cup winner Maciej Janowski, 2019 British Champion Charles Wright and former double Australian national Champion Rohan Tungate.
Supporters should note that the only place to watch the action is in person at the stadium with TNT Sports broadcasting Leicester v Sheffield with highlights coming from King’s Lynn v Belle Vue.
• Supporters will also be able to purchase their tickets for the last ever fixture at Perry Barr, currently scheduled to be on Monday, August 25.
BIRMINGHAM: Tobiasz Musielak, Paco Castagna, Jonas Jeppesen, Keynan Rew, Matej Zagar, Zaine Kennedy, Sam Hagon.
OXFORD: Maciej Janowski, Erik Riss R/R, Charles Wright, Kye Thomson, Rohan Tungate, Mitch McDiarmid, Luke Killeen.
