By Henry Chard

THE SCORES

SHEFFIELD 55: Jack Holder 18 (Maximum), Kyle Howarth © 3, Chris Holder 10+1, Josh Pickering 17+1 (Paid Maximum), Tai Woffinden R/R, Jason Edwards 6+1, Dan Gilkes (RS) 1. Team Manager: Simon Stead

IPSWICH 35: Jaimon Lidsey (G) 7, Keynan Rew 6+1, Danny King © 4+1, Tom Brennan (G) 6, Adam Ellis 5+2, Jordan Jenkins 3+1, Dan Thompson (RS) 4+1. Team Manager: Ritchie Hawkins

REFEREE: P. Carrington

KNOCKOUT CUP DRAW

QUARTER-FINALS

First Leg: Belle Vue 49-41 Sheffield. Second Leg: Sheffield 49–41 Belle Vue – Sheffield win super heat

First Leg: Leicester 42-48 Ipswich. Second Leg: Ipswich 47–43 Leicester

SEMI-FINALS

First Leg: Birmingham 44-46 Ipswich. Second Leg: Ipswich 51-39 Birmingham

First Leg: King’s Lynn 50-40 Sheffield. Second Leg: Sheffield 54-36 King’s Lynn

FINAL

First Leg: Sheffield 55-35 Ipswich. Second Leg: Ipswich vs Sheffield (5^th Sep)

THE STORY

The Ipswich ‘Tru7 Group’ Witches were well beaten at Sheffield on Monday night in the first leg of the Knockout Cup final.

The visitors remain without their top two riders in Jason Doyle and Emil Sayfutdinov due to injuries with Jaimon Lidsey and Tom Brennan guesting in their absence. The hosts were running rider replacement for Tai Woffinden. Sheffield registered a string of 4-2s in the first half of the contest and found themselves 12 points to the good after nine races. Ipswich battled hard in the second half of the meeting but leave themselves with a big deficit to overturn at Foxhall after a 20-point defeat. Lidsey top scored with seven points.

Sheffield struck a 4-2 in heat one and heat two was stopped after a tight first bend saw Dan Thompson fall and he was excluded from the race. In the re-run Jason Edwards managed to hold off Jordan Jenkins to win in another heat advantage to the home team. The 4-2s kept on coming in heat three before a shared heat four left the score 15-9.

It was back to a Sheffield 4-2 in heat five and another followed in heat six as Jack Holder won and Kyle Howarth passed Jenkins late on in the race for a point. It was the same result in heat seven as Chris Holder won on this occasion and Edwards passed Danny King on the race to the line for third. The Witches finally got their first race win of the night in heat eight as Keynan Rew was first across the line and he was followed home by Thompson for a maximum that made it 28-20.

The Tigers registered their first 5-1 of the night in heat nine and heat 10 was shared. There was another 3-3 in heat 11 but the home team hit another maximum in heat 12 to put them 44-28 up as they secured victory on the night.

Jack Holder won heat 13 but Lidsey and Adam Ellis relegated Howarth to the back to prevent another heat advantage. Josh Pickering picked up his fifth win of the night in heat 14 but once again the visitors prevented a heat advantage as Jenkins battled past Edwards for third. Jack Holder and Pickering completed their maximums in heat 15 as they raced to a 5-1 as Sheffield put one hand on the trophy ahead of Thursday’s second leg in Suffolk.

REACTION FROM THE BOSS

Ipswich ‘Tru7 Group’ Witches team manager Ritchie Hawkins reflects on Monday’s defeat at Sheffield.

“It was a far bigger deficit than we were looking to pull back on Thursday. It is quite clear that we have lost our race winners, and we are not winning enough races without them. That was the big difference and there were heats that we needed to attack for heat advantages. One of those was heat two and Dan fell straight away which immediately puts you on the back foot from then on. There were other heats where we shouldn’t drop points and we did, and we have left ourselves a big task on Thursday.

“The guests are coming in and doing a decent job, but you are never going to get a like for like replacement. I was really pleased with the commitment from Jaimon and Tom, and they gave everything for the team. You are not going to get straight replacements for Jason and Emil, we know that.

“It was great to see so many of our fans up there, the support was amazing as always. It is even more appreciated now when we know things are tough and it was nice to chat to a few of them after the meeting who are very loyal and understanding of the situation we are in at the moment.

“We go into Thursday with the boys determined not to roll over and to put everything into pulling the points back. We have had big wins at home in the past and if we can get on a roll, you never know.”

RIDER OF THE NIGHT

Rew provided the only race winner of the night for Ipswich and did his job on his return to the main body of the team.

WHAT IT MEANS

Sheffield take a 20-point lead to Foxhall meaning Ipswich have it all to do in the second leg to retain the title.

UP NEXT

The Ipswich ‘Tru7 Group’ Witches host the Sheffield Tigers at Foxhall Stadium on Thursday 5^th September in a Knockout Cup final second leg fixture. Tickets can be purchased on the gate and in advance here.