PREVIEW: IPSWICH v LEICESTER (ROWE MOTOR OIL PREM GRAND FINAL)
IPSWICH take a four-point advantage over Leicester into the second leg of the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership Grand Final tonight (Thursday) as they seek their first league title since 1998.
The Witches emerged from the away leg in the East Midlands earlier this week with the lead, and they now look to finish the job at Foxhall.
The home side are without Adam Ellis after his crash at the Hydroscand Arena, and former Ipswich rider Keynan Rew comes in as a guest.
The Lions have won on two of their last four trips to Suffolk, and they will be at full strength as they look to pull off a turnaround.
Ipswich manager Ritchie Hawkins said: “It is the biggest night at Foxhall for a couple of years now, and to have the second leg of the Grand Final at home is massive for the club.
“I know everyone will be out supporting us, and we certainly did the Witches race-jacket proud on Monday night with our battling performance and determination. That is what we will have to do on Thursday.
“The tie is evenly-matched and they will know they are capable of winning at Foxhall and being very good, so we need to be completely focused, the same as Monday night.
“It is going to be one hell of a meeting and one hell of a Final, and we are fully focused on coming out on top.”
Lions boss Stewart Dickson said: “We had a couple of bits of misfortune on Monday, twice with clutch problems for Drew Kemp, and if we can cut out those errors and get one or two more points from a couple of other guys in the team, we still have a chance.
“They will be favourites obviously, but we can ride the Ipswich track pretty well, and you just never know. Things can change in speedway.
“If we can get off to a good start we can put them under pressure, and suddenly it will be them who are worried.
“I know these boys, we’ve lost twice at home this season and both times we’ve bounced back. We are very capable, I’m sure we’ll have a massive support down there and we certainly haven’t given up.”
IPSWICH: Emil Sayfutdinov, Danny King, Tom Brennan, Keynan Rew, Jason Doyle, Dan Thompson, Jason Edwards.
LEICESTER: Max Fricke, Luke Becker, Ryan Douglas, Kyle Howarth, Sam Masters, Drew Kemp, Joe Thompson.
SCB Referee: Seth Perkin
Photo credit: JEFF HIGGOTT
