Sheffield Tigers v Ipswich Witches

SHEFFIELD were restricted to a 48-42 home win by Ipswich on Monday leaving the Premiership KO Cup Final intriguingly poised at the halfway stage.

The Witches in fact raced into an early four-point lead at Owlerton before the Tigers hit back strongly and extended their advantage to eight.

But this was clipped back in the final race with a 4-2 from Emil Sayfutdinov and Jason Doyle at the end of a fierce night of racing, with the return taking place at Foxhall on Thursday.

Josh Pickering top scored for the home side with 11+1 and skipper Kyle Howarth impressed with 10. Danny King hit 10 for the Witches and Sayfutdinov recovered from a slow start to post nine.

Tigers boss Simon Stead said: “I would’ve liked more, but we haven’t got more.

“We got caught a little bit early on but we did respond to that – it would’ve just been nice to have finished a little bit stronger.”

Ipswich manager Ritchie Hawkins said: “I was really pleased with the boys; we got a bit beat up with Erik (Riss) and Keynan (Rew) having crashes and we could have let it fall away, but we stuck in there and come away six points down.

“At the halfway stage, six points isn’t drastic and is certainly something we are confident in overturning.

“I think it was a meeting that provided everything which a Cup Final should. Nobody moaned about the rain, and everyone carried on and racing like that in the rain was brilliant to see. It leaves things evenly poised and exciting going into Thursday.”

PREMIERSHIP KO CUP FINAL, 1st leg
SHEFFIELD 48: Josh Pickering 11+1, Kyle Howarth 10, Tobiasz Musielak 9, Chris Holder 9, Kyle Newman 4, Jason Edwards 3+2, Max Fricke 2+1.
IPSWICH 42: Danny King 10, Emil Sayfutdinov 9, Jason Doyle 8+2, Erik Riss 7, Keynan Rew 6, Danyon Hume 2, Joe Thompson 0.

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Photo credit: CHARLOTTE FLANIGAN