WITH last Friday’s home Premier League match against Scunthorpe falling afoul of the weather and no match at the Oaktree Arena this Friday (April 22), the Somerset Rebels will finally, albeit belatedly, get their league championship campaign underway on Sunday (April 24) when they make the trip to Cambridgeshire to take on the Peterborough Panthers.

The East of England Showground has proved to be a happy hunting ground for the Rebels since the Panthers re-joined the Premier League in 2014, their four previous trips to Alwalton having yielded no less than three wins, with the only defeat being a narrow two-point loss on their first meeting at the venue.

“It is true to say that we’ve had a good run of results there,” said Somerset team manager Garry May.

“It goes without saying that we’ll be looking to extend our winning run at the East of England Showground come the end of Sunday’s match.

“There are some similarities between the Oaktree Arena and the Peterborough track, which probably accounts for some of the reasoning behind our good record there, but by the same token, apart from one match when they held us to a draw, the Panthers have not done so well when they come to the Oaktree.

“Peterborough have a strong looking side again this year, so it won’t be easy on Sunday, but they have already had their colours lowered on home shale this season, so we will go there in a positive frame of mind, as we always do for our away trips, looking to get our belated start to our league campaign off in the best possible way, with an away win and all four match points!”

The Rebels next home fixture is scheduled for Friday, April 29 when the Ipswich Witches visit the Oaktree Arena in a Premier League fixture.