LEICESTER boss Stewart Dickson was delighted to “wipe out” the home defeat by Ipswich at Oxford on Monday.
The Lions bounced back from their home defeat to the Witches by winning at Oxford in Monday’s only surviving ROWE Motor Oil Premiership fixtures.
The Lions and Spires did beat the weather at BetGoodwin Oxford Stadium with the visitors coming away with a 49-41 victory.
Sam Masters led the way with four wins out of five as he scored 13 points, with the Lions sealing their success when Kyle Howarth won Heat 14 as the hosts used Erik Riss for a tactical substitute in a last roll of the dice.
Max Fricke backed up Masters with 9+2 and his combination with Luke Becker (8+1) produced two 5-1s, whilst Charles Wright (10+1), Erik Riss (10) and Tom Brennan (10) led the Oxford scoring.
Lions boss Stewart Dickson said: “We did target this meeting for an away win, and the timing of the signing of Dan Gilkes worked in our favour because when you look at the scorechart his four points was a big contribution to the 49 that we got.
“Well done also to their track curator Jamie Courtney for getting it on, and with a bit of grading it certainly came better as the meeting went on.
“We rode pretty well, although I’m not denying we will face tougher challenges, but it’s good to wipe out the home defeat against Ipswich.”
Spires manager Peter Schroeck said: “I really can’t complain about most of the team – Erik did a great job, so did Charles and so did Tom Brennan as our guest.
“For Peter (Kildemand), it was his first meeting back from injury for Spires and I think he’ll be good for two or three points more per meeting going forwards.
“I can’t sugar coat it anymore – we need more points from the No.1 position. Rohan (Tungate) needs to do some serious soul-searching and find something that works, whatever that is. I’ve got his back, but it’s mostly up to him to sort it out.”
Words by Holeshot Media.
Images by Taylor Lanning.