Ipswich boss Paul Hurry hopes to turn entertainment into points on the road after the Tru7 Group Witches lost a Rowe Motor Oil Premiership thriller 52-38 in Sheffield on Thursday.
The Witches and Tigers were deadlocked throughout the first half of the contest with all of the opening eight heats ending 3-3. But back-to-back 5-1s for Sheffield in races nine and 10 put Ipswich on the back foot and, despite Witches duo Tom Brennan and Danny King responding with a maximum of their own in heat 11, a 4-2 and two 5-1s in the final four heats sealed victory for the Yorkshire side.
Witches skipper Danny King led his side’s scoring on an impressive 11 paid 13 points, with Polish racer Tobiasz Musielak battling his way to eight.
Hurry deployed King as a tactical substitute in heat 14, but it proved too little, too late as Sheffield’s stellar top trio of brothers Jack and Chris Holder and Josh Pickering racked up 33 of Sheffield’s 52 points between them.
After seeing his side cling on to one of the Premiership title favourites for so long, Hurry was gutted with the final outcome after a great night of action at Owlerton.
He said: “It’s just disappointing when you hold them for that long and you lose by that many. It’s alright entertaining people, but when the result goes in our favour, it’s better.
“Towards the end there, we made the changes that we could. It didn’t quite pay off. When I looked at the races we had to go, I thought we had a fairly good chance of pulling it back when we were eight points down.
“All the boys dug deep. It’s not a favourite track for the majority of them. But they went there, got their heads down, got on with the job and did the best they could.
“We stuck in there for quite a while. It’s just that sometimes in those final heats on the bigger tracks, when the home boys get their setups dialled in and keep their wheels in line, we just miss out.”
Hurry has led his side to five wins in their opening seven matches in all competitions, but he is still searching for more after a night when the Witches were without suspended Swedish reserve Philip Hellstrom-Bangs and guest Daniel Klima failed to score.
He said: “I wouldn’t say we are in total top form. I would say we are in good form and there is room for improvement. We are working towards that.
“Jason Edwards had an okay meeting. His job is to do the deed in heat two and anything above that is a bonus.
“Daniel had never been to Sheffield before, and it was a gamble. The thinking behind using him was he’s a European rider, they ride big, fast tracks and it might have suited him. That wasn’t to be. It is what it is.”
Next up for the Witches is a Rowe Motor Oil Premiership clash with Belle Vue at Foxhall Stadium next Thursday. Advance tickets for the Aces meeting are already available online HERE.
FINAL SCORES
SHEFFIELD TIGERS 52: 1. Jack Holder 10+3, 2. Anders Rowe 7+2, 3. Chris Holder 11+1, 4. Leon Flint 6, 5. Josh Pickering 12+1, 6. Jye Etheridge 2, 7. Luke Killeen 4+1.
IPSWICH TRU7 GROUP WITCHES 38: 1. Tom Brennan 5, 2. Danny King 11+2, 3. Richard Lawson 5+2, 4. Scott Nicholls 5+1, 5. Tobiasz Musielak 8, 6. Daniel Klima 0, 7. Jason Edwards 4+1.