Witches missing two stars as they try to claw Tigers in Sheffield tonight

The Ipswich Witches try again to race their final away fixture of the regular Premiership campaign at Sheffield tonight (7.30pm).

The two sides were due to meet last Thursday at Owlerton but a pre-meeting downpour saw the meeting postponed.

Ipswich hold a five-point lead in the table over the Tigers, and they need just a point (Draw/Super Heat defeat) from the two remaining fixtures to confirm a first-placed finish which would see Ritchie Hawkins’ side face Belle Vue in the play-off semi-final.

The visitors will be without Jason Doyle and Adam Ellis who both have Danish league commitments with Chris Harris and Kyle Howarth coming in as guests.

With the new averages, Dan Thompson moves into the main body of the side and Emil Sayfutdinov is at number one.

The Suffolk side’s last visit to South Yorkshire went to the wire as Sheffield claimed a 46-44 win back in May.

Dan Thompson moves to number four (Image: Steve Waller) Witches’ manager Ritchie Hawkins said: “Unfortunately, we will be without Jason and Adam who have Danish fixtures which takes priority.

“We bring in Bomber and we always know what we are getting with Chris, and he is certainly not someone who will be intimidated by the Sheffield track and we know he goes well there.

“There is a reason Chris gets so many guest bookings. Adam would have missed last week anyway but he came through practice and a meeting in Poland last week so he will be racing for his Danish team on Wednesday.

“We have brought Kyle Howarth in, and he captained Sheffield for a long time and knows the place well, we couldn’t ask to bring in a better guest than him.

“Two good lads that will fit in and we will look to stir Sheffield up and we still have a line-up capable of winning.

“We have had a change in riding order, but we knew it was coming for a while, certainly with Emil and we knew there was a good chance Dan would move up which he has done.

“Emil and Jason are two number ones anyway, so it doesn’t make a difference which way round they ride.

“Our situation is pretty clear now, if Sheffield win both meetings they will finish top and they will be racing Belle Vue in the semi-final and if we win one of them then we know we will be.

“We have two shots at it and Wednesday is more of a free hit because we know we have a home meeting on Thursday, and we expect to win all of our home meetings because we are strong at Foxhall.”

SHEFFIELD: 1. Jack Holder 9.32 2. Leon Flint (RS) 6.57 3. Chris Holder 7.31 4. Nick Morris 6.13 5. Josh Pickering (c) 8.04 6. Anders Rowe 5.68 7. Jye Etheridge 3.34.

IPSWICH: 1. Emil Sayfutdinov 8.34 2. Danny King (c) 6.95 3. Chris Harris (G) 7.76 4. Dan Thompson 6.06 5. Tom Brennan 7.28 6. Kyle Howarth (G) 6.02 7. Jason Edwards (RS).

Witches missing two stars as they try to claw Tigers in Sheffield tonight

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