Wednesday April 20, 2022
PETERBOROUGH are without Michael Palm Toft for what has become a crunch League Cup contest at King’s Lynn on Thursday (7.30pm).

The Dane crashed out of the Crendon Panthers’ surprise home defeat to the Stars on Monday, which has put the Norfolk side in the driving seat for the group.

Palm Toft suffered concussion when he fell heavily on the entry to the back straight. He had just moved inside Stars man Richie Worrall but then clipped Worrall’s team-mate Richard Lawson’s rear wheel, leading to the resulting accident.

Concussion protocols mean Palm Toft must sit out for nine days, which rules him out of the trip to the Adrian Flux Arena – but assuming there are no further ill effects, he should be fit for Panthers’ Premiership league opener at Belle Vue on May 2.

In his absence, the rider-replacement facility will be in operation meaning Palm Toft’s rides will be shared amongst his colleagues.

Better news is the return of impressive new reserve Benjamin Basso, who missed Monday’s meeting due to Under-21 commitments.

And regular team manager Rob Lyon is back at the helm after returning from a pre-booked trip abroad which coincided with the home match, where co-promoter and former boss Carl Johnson stood in.

Johnson said: “Rob’s back for Thursday, I know he was looking in on Monday and keeping in touch, and hopefully there will be some more fireworks at King’s Lynn!

“I actually enjoyed being back in the pressure-cooker on Monday, it was good to be back involved, although obviously we wanted things to go a bit smoother than how they did.

“We had a look at the options for Michael, we felt this one was best, and the boys go well there so hopefully we’ll be able to turn things around.”

Panthers won on both of their visits to the Adrian Flux Arena last season with an emphatic 54-36 triumph in July, followed by a much tighter 46-44 triumph in mid-August – although Palm Toft scored 11+4 in that meeting, so his absence is clearly a major blow.

KING’S LYNN: Niels-Kristian Iversen, Thomas Jorgensen, Josh Pickering, Lewis Kerr, Richard Lawson, Richie Worrall, Jack Thomas.
PETERBOROUGH: Michael Palm Toft R/R, Scott Nicholls, Ulrich Ostergaard, Hans Andersen, Chris Harris, Benjamin Basso, Jordan Palin.