Ipswich team manager Paul Hurry admits a Tru7 Group Witches win on the road would be a huge boost to their Rowe Motor Oil Premiership play-off hopes as they visit King’s Lynn on Monday.
The Witches head to the Adrian Flux Arena for East Anglian derby action with a 51-38 aggregate lead in the battle for the bonus point.
Hurry’s side is currently fourth in the Premiership standings on 18 points from 15 matches – occupying the last play-off qualification place. King’s Lynn is fifth on 15, but the Witches have one meeting in hand over the Stars, who have contested 16 fixtures. Sheffield is third on 20 points from 16 meetings.
Ipswich has two home matches remaining against Sheffield (August 27) and Belle Vue (September 10) and three away dates at King’s Lynn, Leicester (August 31) and Northampton (September 3).
Hurry knows victory in Norfolk could really boost his side’s hopes of climbing the standings. He said: “That’s what we need to do. We have got to get a result on the road – ideally a couple of results. We need to win at least one of them.
“This is an important one – like every match is. Hopefully the boys can hit the ground running and have a good meeting. The track is good – it’s always good at King’s Lynn. Hopefully they can get settled in and do what they know they can do.
“Everyone has ridden there. They all have experience of riding at King’s Lynn. Let’s face it; they have all been going pretty well recently, so as long as they are confident and everything works, there is no reason why we can’t get a result.”
The Witches draft in former King’s Lynn rider Anders Rowe as a guest, with Scott Nicholls sidelined due to a broken collarbone. “Being without Scott will be hard,” Hurry admitted. “He has had some good meetings there in the past. But in saying that, we have Anders, and he had a really good meeting there a couple of weeks back, scoring 14 paid 15 for Sheffield on August 3.”
Following Monday’s derby action, the Witches welcome Sheffield to Foxhall on Thursday evening. Advance tickets are available online HERE, with cash payments accepted at turnstiles on race day and card payments available at the entrance to the right.
For those unable to make it to Foxhall on Thursday, you can catch all the action live on WitchesTV HERE.
MONDAY’S STARTING LINE-UPS
KING’S LYNN STARS: 1. Max Fricke, 2. Ben Cook, 3. Jan Kvech, 4. Cooper Rushen, 5. Chris Harris (captain), 6. Jordan Jenkins, 7. Jody Scott.
IPSWICH TRU7 GROUP WITCHES: 1. Richard Lawson, 2. Anders Rowe (guest), 3. Danny King (captain), 4. Tom Brennan, 5. Tobiasz Musielak, 6. Kevin Juhl Pedersen, 7. Jason Edwards.