By Ky Capel - Dorset Echo

Aussie ace Lee Herne makes his debut for the Weymouth Doonan Wildcats tonight (7.15pm) when they travel to the Plymouth Devils for the first leg of their Knockout Cup tie. Lee, brother of current Wildcat Jay, only arrived in the UK on Wednesday and makes his return to British speedway after a three-year absence. The new signing comes in at number one as Jon Armstrong's replacement and tonight makes his bow for the Radipole Lane outfit while Andrew Bargh switches to number four in place of team captain Karl Mason. The Weymouth skipper though, will be back for the return leg tomorrow night (7.15pm) at the Wessex Stadium.

Plymouth's St Boniface Arena circuit isn't a favourite of the Wildcats, who have lost their last five meetings there. The Wildcats though go into tonight's first leg showdown, their third trip to the Devon track this year already, in confident mood having secured two valuable league points in a commanding 62-31 victory over the Rye House Cobras last weekend - their biggest win of the season so far.

In a well-rounded performance by the Wildcats, where every team member scored well, the home side recorded nine heat maximums. And Weymouth will be eager to post a good score tonight to take back to the Wessex Stadium tomorrow and gain the overall aggregate success to book a place in the semis.

TONIGHT'S LINE-UPS

Weymouth Wildcats
1 Lee Herne, 2 Brendan Johnson, 3 Luke Priest, 4 Andrew Bargh, 5 Jay Herne, 6 Kyle Newman, 7 Tim Webster.

Plymouth Devils
1 Seemond Stevens, 2 R/R, 3 Tom Brown, 4 Nicki Glanz, 5 Mark Simmonds, 6 Jamie Pickard, 7 Paul Starke.