by Ky Capel - Dorset Echo

NEW signing Matthew Wright believes the Weymouth Doonan Wildcats have "one of the strongest, if not the strongest" squad in the Conference League. The 22-year-old is set to make his delayed debut tonight at the Wessex Stadium against the Redcar Cubs (7.15pm), taking the place of the injured Tim Webster. And Wright, whose bow for the Wildcats was put on hold following last weekend's postponement due to heavy rain, is keeping his fingers crossed for better weather.

He said: "I've not seen a track as wet as that before. The Weymouth track does take a fair bit of water but hopefully the sun will be shining and the weather will be much better this time." The Cubs' undoubted star of this year, Aaron Summers, is absent from tonight's line-up, something which Wright hopes will work in his side's favour. He added: "I think Redcar are without Aaron Summers so that could prove to be a big plus for us. We're also very strong right now with Brendan Johnson dropping to reserve so hopefully we can pick up some points. If you can win your home meetings then it gives you great confidence to get good results away. Ideally we need to try and get into the top two so that we get home advantage in the play-offs. I believe we've got one of the strongest, if not the strongest, team in the league."

Wright is keen to prove his worth while deputising for Webster, who broke his ankle against Boston two weeks ago. He said: "It was unfortunate to see Tim get injured but it has helped me out, and hopefully I'll score well in his absence. I started at Boston and then went on to Mildenhall before coming here. Conference League meetings have helped sharpen me up and I'm just concentrating on riding for Weymouth now. Everyone at Weymouth is in such a great mood and everybody gets on well."

Although Redcar are without the services of Aussie Summers, the Wildcats will also be forced to use rider replacement cover as Andrew Bargh is on Premier League duty with the Isle of Wight. Wildcats' chairman Phil Bartlett is confident of his side's chances against the North Yorkshire outfit. He said: "Redcar are possibly the dark horses in the league and have some very promising riders in their squad. However, I am confident of a home win which will set us up nicely for next week's meeting at our nemesis track - the St Boniface Arena. Karl Mason has been in fantastic form of late as has Jay Herne. Luke Priest looked a lot sharper against Boston and Brendan Johnson is relishing dropping back down to reserve. Matt Wright will be making his debut for the Wildcats and Kyle Newman will no doubt be entertaining us with his all-action style in this must win meeting."

The rained-off meeting against Boston will be re-staged on Friday, September 12 while the away fixture at Rye House has been re-arranged for October 4.

Team manager Jem Dicken said: "We are not happy about the lateness of the proposed Rye House fixture as it is almost a month after our penultimate league meeting. It only leaves three weekends left to fit in the play-off semi-final and final if either club have a top four finish."

TONIGHT'S LINE-UPS Wildcats: 1 R/R, 2 Matt Wright, 3 Luke Priest, 4 Karl Mason, 5 Jay Herne, 6 Brendan Johnson, 7 Kyle Newman.

Cubs: 1 Scott James, 2 Gary Beaton, 3 R/R, 4 Jade Mudgway, 5 Benji Compton, 6 Ben Reade, 7 Dan Greenwood.