PREVIEW: IPSWICH v BELLE VUE (PO SF)

FORMER Belle Vue star Craig Cook is to make a guest appearance for his old club in tonight’s (Thursday) Premiership play-off semi-final at Ipswich.

Cook, who also rode for the Witches last season, was an Aces regular from 2013-18 and steps in to cover for No.1 Max Fricke, who is out for the remainder of the campaign after crashing in Poland at the weekend.

The Foxhall side are targeting a first-leg advantage although they have often been run close at home this year – whilst the Aces’ only away wins have been at Peterborough, but they have been hugely powerful in Manchester.

Witches boss Ritchie Hawkins said: “Belle Vue will be a tough test; they have got a great team together and we are going to need everyone there supporting us and our team has shown enough this year that it warrants that backing. We are excited to get going now.

“We have been very good away from home, so it is not all on our performance on Thursday night, but we need to put in two great performances over two legs if we want to progress and we are more than capable of doing that.”

Aces star Tom Brennan said: “Losing our No.1 at such an important time is a massive blow for us and we certainly send Max our best wishes for a speedy recovery.

“The feeling amongst the boys is good. We know what we’re capable of around Ipswich and we’ve shown before that we can keep things close even with guys missing.

“It will be a challenge, but these are the semi-finals and we expect nothing less, and we’re looking forward to it to be honest.”

IPSWICH: Jason Doyle, Aaron Summers, Danny King, Rohan Tungate, Troy Batchelor, Paul Starke, Anders Rowe.
BELLE VUE: Craig Cook, Tom Brennan, Matej Zagar, Charles Wright, Brady Kurtz, Jye Etheridge, Norick Blodorn.