By David Rowe
All the details ahead of our League Cup fixture with Peterborough.
WHEN & WHERE
The ‘Tru Mix’ Witches host the Peterborough Panthers at Foxhall Stadium on Thursday 14th April in a League Cup fixture that starts at 7.30pm.
TEAMS
IPSWICH: 1. Jason Doyle 8.96 2. Cameron Heeps 4.96 3. Troy Batchelor 5.67 4. Erik Riss 5.08 5. Danny King 7.96 © 6. Paul Starke 4.58 7. Anders Rowe (RS). Team Manager: Ritchie Hawkins
PETERBOROUGH: 1. Michael Palm Toft 7.17 2. Scott Nicholls 6.71 © 3. Ulrich Ostergaard 7.09 4. Hans Andersen 7.05 5. Chris Harris 7.02 6. Benjamin Basso 4.00 7. Jordan Palin (RS) Team Manager: Rob Lyon
REFEREE: W. Jarvis
GROUP B TABLE
| Team | Meetings | Points |
| Peterborough | 1 | 3 |
| King’s Lynn | 0 | 0 |
| Ipswich | 1 | 0 |
TICKETS
Tickets are available to buy online (until 7pm on raceday) and on the gate and are priced at £20 for adults and £18 for concessions (65+). Children 16 and under go free. Official programmes are priced at £3 and are available at the stadium. Car parking is free for all supporters. Debit and credit card payments are accepted. Turnstiles open at 6.40pm.
THE STORY
The ‘Tru Mix’ Witches face the Peterborough Panthers at Foxhall on Thursday night in their first home fixture of the new season.
The Witches’ scheduled fixtures against King’s Lynn at both Foxhall and the Adrian Flux Arena have fallen victim to the weather in recent weeks, so this will be just the second time their new-look side has taken to the track.
And the group itself has yet to progress further since Peterborough defeated the Witches 53-37 at the East of England Arena last Monday, with the Panthers also inactive since then.
The two teams are both unchanged from that Alwalton encounter, with Ipswich boss Ritchie Hawkins again electing to track Cameron Heeps as opening partner for Jason Doyle whilst Erik Riss, who would have ridden at No.2 at King’s Lynn, once more lines up in the middle order with fellow new signing Troy Batchelor.
FROM THE BOSS
Ipswich ‘Tru Mix’ Witches team manager Ritchie Hawkins gives us his pre-match thoughts…
“It wasn’t the greatest of results at Peterborough last Monday, but myself and Chris (Louis) still went away from that meeting feeling confident that this is going to be a good season.
“I don’t feel the score there really reflected our efforts, and I was very pleased with the way the team was starting to gel together.
“Peterborough are a side who have a fairly good record around Foxhall. I’m sure they will come here fully confident that they can take a win, and with it being our first home meeting we probably lose a bit of home track advantage as such.
“It’s going to be a very tough night, but looking at our team I think we’re more than strong enough to take three points.”
THE PANTHERS
Not only were Peterborough crowned Premiership champions last season, they were also the undisputed away-day specialists of the league competition.
Incredibly the Panthers lost only one of their ten regular fixtures on the road, winning eight and drawing one, and with a largely unchanged septet in 2022 it seems reasonable to assume they will once again be a strong force on their travels.
They have three former Ipswich riders, with skipper Scott Nicholls and Danish star Hans Andersen forming the Witches’ Elite League spearhead way back in 2004, and Andersen will doubtless be all out to make amends for his shock zero-points return last Monday. Chris Harris is a more recent ex-Ipswich man, having been part of the team which reached the Grand Final in 2019.
There is one Foxhall debutant in the Panthers’ ranks, with Benjamin Basso at reserve having made an immediate impression for his new club with a score of 12 paid 14 last Monday.