BERWICK Bandits head into a busy weekend without star man Sebastian Alden due to a freak accident.
The Bandits visit Plymouth (tonight, 7.30pm), Newport (tomorrow, 7pm) and Rye House on Sunday, but Alden will not be available having broken his toe trying to snap a floorboard.
Berwick team boss Ian Rae said: “Alden was working on Wednesday at home in Sweden, where he is busy renovating an old house.
“He stamped on an old floorboard to break it – but the board was tough and instead of snapping the board he broke his toe.
“His foot is all swollen and he cannot even get a shoe on it, so racing this weekend has to be out of the question.
“He is hoping it will have improved enough, though, for him to come over for our final home meeting of the year against Newport.”
Rae has signed up Scunthorpe’s experienced skipper David Howe as a guest rider to take Alden’s place in all three away matches over the weekend.
However, as one Swedish star’s door slammed shut another has opened – crowd favourite Alex Edberg, missing from the A and J Scott Bandits’ line-up since a fearsome crash at Shielfield Park in July, has been declared fit again and will be in the team for the club’s remaining matches.
Rae added: “This means we have to say goodbye to Ludvig Lindgren, who was such a popular injury-replacement for Alex. However, the return of a rider who looked as though his crash might have caused even more grievous injuries is good news.”
Berwick are not the only side to have changes to deal – the Devils have drafted in Tyson Nelson and Jamie Courtney in place of Justin Sedgmen and Kyle Hughes.
They also operate rider-replacement for Jesper Kristiansen with all the team members, except number one Ben Barker, eligible to take additional rides.
The match against Newport later this month is the Bandits’ only remaining home match but a date for the encounter has still to be agreed.
PLYMOUTH DEVILS: Ben Barker (Captain), Jamie Courtney (Guest), Tyson Nelson (Guest), Jesper Kristiansen – Rider replacement, Ricky Wells, Gino Franchetti, James Cockle.
BERWICK BANDITS: David Howe, Alex Edberg, Linus Eklof, Josef Franc, Lee Complin (Captain), Mitch Davey, Jade Mudgway