Bees hope to deliver Knockout blow; Bees facing tough call on line-up for final.

Byline: David Rowe 

COVENTRY'S 2009 season will finish in exactly the same way as 2008 - with a major final against Lakeside.

The Buildbase Bees defeated the Hammers to win the Craven Shield last October and now the two teams are to meet over two legs to decide the Knockout Cup, which the Bees won in both 2006 and 2007.

They have little time to reflect on their semi-final win over Belle Vue, as they will travel to Purfleet for the first leg of the Final on Friday, with the return fixture a fortnight later. And despite a rather awkward start at Kirkmanshulme Lane on Monday, Bees' eventual six-point aggregate win was rather flattering to Belle Vue - certainly, had it been a regular Elite League fixture, Bees would have been devastated had they lost it.

Co-boss Peter Oakes pointed to the big picture with qualification ensured, although he is seeking more consistency from the team as a whole when they face the Hammers.

Oakes said: "The important thing was to make sure we were ahead on aggregate after two legs, and that's what we did. Sometimes things can change very quickly.

"We saw it when we had Josh Auty on a race win and Olly Allen's chain jumped off when the countershaft went haywire and a potential 5-1 to us went to them instead.

"Again in Heat 15 Chris Harris's clutch exploded on the start-line, so sometimes you're grateful for the cushion you have, but I still think on the night we probably deserved a draw, even though we were only really firing on four cylinders.

"I thought Josh did a lot better than his score suggested, and he richly deserved seven or eight points, but we did have three riders who struggled which is the story of our season.

"Hopefully everyone will be that bit fitter for the final. Ben (Barker) was battered and bruised again after a big crash in the Czech Republic and Rory (Schein) was still down on his fitness but we came through it." Bees now have to decide on their starting line-up at Purfleet, particularly at reserve, with Auty's display at Belle Vue - and his good result at Lakeside in the British Under-21 Final earlier this season - possibly putting him in pole position to continue. Oakes added: "We've got to get a performance from all seven riders, andwe can't afford the kind of night where only four riders are scoring the bulk of the points. "We've got to decide what team we're going to put out at Lakeside, because we've got both Josh and Jordan Frampton vying for a place. "They've both scored decent points at different times and Josh did well for us onMonday. I thought his second placewhen he nearly beat (Krzysztof) Kasprzak gave us a lift when we needed it."