NEWPORT Wasps are just two meetings away from reaching the Premier League Knockout Cup final but, for Lee Dicken, tonight's semi-final first leg is like falling out of bed - literally!

While the rest of the Wasps travel up from South Wales and all other points of the country, Dicken can spend the day preparing his bike and generally relaxing before the big event.

The 24-year-old lives just a few miles from the Hull Vikings track that he once used to call home before joining the Wasps.

And with team captain Craig Watson plus reserve Barrie Evans both out for the season, the heat is on Dicken to perform.

However, the boo boys will be out in force as usual to try and knock the Wasps' number two rider out of gear even though he will do his bit to cause some havoc of his own. Dicken said: "It's an enormous meeting for us and it's easy for me because I haven't got very far to go.

"It's my old track so it's going to be a bit tough being back there. I think I've got more pressure on me than the rest of the team but I'll just be winding the Hull lot up.

"I'll get some stick back off them but I don't think it's because they don't like me. It's because I go there and stir the trouble up a bit."

But with Watson and Evans both out and the Wasps having suffered four Premier League defeats in the space of a week, they are very much underdogs to turn over the Vikings.

However, Dicken said they will be giving it their best shot and the team have to respond positively .

He added: "Everything that has gone on has started to get a few of the boys down but, if we can open the meeting tonight with heat advantages, then I'm sure it will fire everyone back up."