Preview: Plymouth v Peterborough in KO Cup quarter final 2nd leg

Plymouth give a debut to 17-year-old James Shanes in their Premier Knock-Out Cup quarter-final decider against Peterborough at the St Boniface Arena on Friday evening (7.15pm), writes Graham Hambly.

The Dorset-based youngster, who has impressed for the Devon Demons in the National League, comes in as a guest replacement for injured reserve Roland Benko.

The Skills Group Devils have a great chance of booking their place in the semi-final of the competition after restricting Peterborough to a 46-44 lead in Tuesday’s first leg.

Co-promoter Ashley Taylor says: "We have done the hard work in the away leg at Peterborough, but we can’t afford to sit back. Peterborough took only a three-point lead from their home leg in the last round against Scunthorpe but still won through on aggregate.

"So the message is clear that there is still a job to be done at the St Boniface Arena on Friday evening."

Regarding the decision to include Shanes in the side, Taylor adds: "We need to look to the future and this is the ideal opportunity to give James a chance at the higher level."

Peterborough will be without their number one Ryan Fisher, who is on duty with his Elite League side Coventry, and the Panthers will operate rider replacement to cover the absence of the former Plymouth rider.

They are boosted by the inclusion of skipper Ulrich Ostergaard and Lasse Bjerre, who missed the recent League Cup visit to Plymouth because they were racing in the Danish championships.

Completing the top five are experienced Czech Republic rider Ales Dryml and Peterborough-born Lewis Blackbird.

The Panthers are without regular reserves Joe Jacobs (Elite League duty) and Oliver Greenwood (injured) so they have called up a couple of guest replacements in former Plymouth rider Ben Hopwood, from Stoke, and Dan Halsey, from Mildenhall.

Plymouth: Ben Barker, rider replacement for Adam Roynon, Kalle Katajisto, Kyle Newman, Rasmus Jensen. Reserves: Sam Simota, James Shanes.
Peterborough: Rider replacement for Ryan Fisher, Lewis Blackbird, Ales Dryml, Ulrich Ostergaard, Lasse Bjerre. Reserves: Dan Halsey, Ben Hopwood.

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