BATTS are the latest club to get the chance to derail Drumchapel Glasgow’s title charge in the next round of British League Premier Division fixtures this weekend.
The Essex club, currently in third place in the table, will do so with two debutants in the team – Luke Walsh and Tony Halling having been named alongside Walsh’s younger brother Ethan and Adam Nutland in the line-up.
With an inexperienced element to the line-up, it will be a tall order to take any points off the visitors, who have won seven from eight, drawing the other against nearest rivals Ormesby.
Ormesby remain in second and, should BATTS manage to take any points off the leaders, a win at home to Cardiff would close the current three-point gap.
Ormesby are fielding a strong team which includes Danny Reed who came very close to beating Paul Drinkhall in the semi-finals of the PG Mutual National Championships on Sunday when he led 3-1.
Also in the Ormesby team is Polish international Filip Szymanski, plus English internationals Darius Knight and Gavin Evans.
Cardiff, who are currently in fifth position in the table, are likely to include within their team Daniel O’Connell, Dean Cundy, Nathan Thomas and Lloyd Gregory.
At the other end of the table, the bottom two meet when Halton host North Ayrshire.
The hosts are without a point and four behind their visitors but do have a match in hand, so a win could potentially do wonders for their relegation fight. The team is expected to be Richard Lightowler, Kevin Dolder, Jake Shaw and Joe Pilkington.
From the visitors’ point of view, a win would virtually guarantee safety and they would probably take a draw.
All three matches begin at 2pm on Saturday. Fusion are the team not in action this weekend.