TIGERS WIN TO GO SECOND
SHEFFIELD pulled off a 47-43 win at ROWE Motor Oil Premiership leaders Ipswich to move into second place in the league table at the cut-off date for play-off qualification.
Jack Holder and Josh Pickering combined for a 5-1 in Heat 15 at Foxhall as the Tigers edged ahead of Leicester in the standings, meaning they will take the second leg of their semi-final at home.
The Witches never led on the night but they fought back from six points down at the midway stage and were level by Heat 10, with the next four races shared before the Sheffield duo overcame Emil Sayfutdinov (10+1) and Jason Doyle (10) in the decider.
Holder top scored for the Tigers with 11+2 and Pickering collected 9+1 with Anders Rowe contributing 8+3 at reserve.
Sheffield boss Simon Stead said: “I’m so proud of the boys with how they knuckled down.
“It’s been a really tough week with rain-offs and cancellations as well as a disappointing result at King’s Lynn.
“But tonight was a really strong team performance with loads of effort, loads of commitment – now we’re really looking forward to the play-offs!”
Ipswich manager Ritchie Hawkins said: “It was a bad result and not what we wanted going into next week. We started way too slowly, and they looked really up for it, we didn’t.
“We nearly got away with it at the end, but they were too good. We have got no choice but to write that off very quickly and things can turn back around very quickly, it is one bad result.
“We need to go to Belle Vue with a fresh mindset and a lot sharper and more determined.”
Ipswich will travel to Manchester for the first leg of their play-off semi-final this coming Monday (September 8) with the Leicester/Sheffield semi kicking off in the East Midlands on September 15.
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Photo credit: JEFF HIGGOTT
