PREVIEW: IPSWICH v SHEFFIELD (Sports Insure Prem Grand Final)

IPSWICH and Sheffield commence their showdown for the Sports Insure Premiership title with the first leg of the Grand Final at Foxhall tonight (Tuesday).

The teams will meet twice in three nights this week with the decider at Owlerton on Thursday, in a repeat of the recent KO Cup Final which was won by the Witches.

The Suffolk side were last crowned champions since way back in 1998, whilst the Tigers have never achieved the feat in the top-flight.

Ipswich bring in Joe Thompson in the Rising Star berth to replace injured twin brother Dan, whilst Sheffield again track Robert Lambert, Richard Lawson and Connor Mountain as guests, as was the case in their semi-final win over Wolverhampton on Thursday.

Witches boss Ritchie Hawkins said: “It is the biggest meeting of the season, and we are going into it buzzing. Clearly, we are in great form, and we have two more meetings to carry that on and it will be 30 tough races home and away.

“We have the chance to build up a lead at home on Tuesday and with the way the boys have been riding, we go into it with confidence. We know this is the Final and will show the determination needed in what will be a tough test.

“The atmosphere here at Ipswich over the last few weeks has been electric and I’m sure everyone will be out in force again on Tuesday, it makes the world of difference. We want to go and win this together.”

Sheffield manager Simon Stead said: “That Knockout Cup Final hurt us. But I think from that disappointment we’ve improved and we are a better team now than when we faced Ipswich at that time.

“We may have a patched-up team but the lads who have come in have mixed really, really well with our regular riders and there’s a real determination about all of them to get the job done now.

“We will get our heads down and go again and I’m sure it will be a fantastic Final over two legs.”

IPSWICH: Emil Sayfutdinov, Erik Riss, Danny King, Keynan Rew, Jason Doyle, Danyon Hume, Joe Thompson.
SHEFFIELD: Robert Lambert, Kyle Howarth, Chris Holder, Josh Pickering, Richard Lawson, Connor Mountain, Jason Edwards.