Ipswich Witches v Birmingham Brummies

Report

IPSWICH found themselves trailing at home to newcomers Birmingham before finishing strongly for a 49-41 win at Foxhall in the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership.

The Brummies raced into an early six-point lead as home star Emil Sayfutdinov fell in Heat 1 and Danny King broke the tapes in Heat 5.

Sayfutdinov crashed again in Heat 13 but Keynan Rew and Rising Star Dan Thompson combined for a match-clinching 5-1 in the next race.

Jason Doyle made an almost perfect return to action with 14 points for the Witches, beaten only by Scott Nicholls in Heat 4, and Adam Ellis totalled 11 – whilst Nicholls again impressed for the Brummies with 11, and Tom Brennan added 8+2.

Ipswich boss Ritchie Hawkins said: “It was a really tough meeting; we were behind for a lot of it. Birmingham will feel like they could have got more out of the meeting.

“I’m very happy with our team with how they fought and improved during the meeting, and we stuck to the task and got the win in the end. I go away with lots of positives, but it was certainly a tough night.

“I am massively impressed by Dan again; he was the star last week and I thought he improved again this week. I am really pleased with him, and he has started the season great, and he has contributed massively. His points were valuable tonight.”

Brennan said: “It was tough because Ipswich are really good at home. But we came here with an open mind and I think we continued to surprise quite a lot of people, which is awesome.

“Birmingham have worked really hard for this and to be a part of this 1-7 feels really good.

“We pushed Ipswich and we were right in the mix. Unfortunately, they got the upper hand towards the end but they’re obviously good at home.”

IPSWICH 49: Jason Doyle 14, Adam Ellis 11, Dan Thompson 7+3, Keynan Rew 7+1, Danny King 5, Emil Sayfutdinov 4+2, Jordan Jenkins 1+1.
BIRMINGHAM 41: Scott Nicholls 11, Tom Brennan 8+2, Vaclav Milik 7+2, Zach Cook 6, Wiktor Lampart 5, Steve Worrall 4+2, Leon Flint 0.

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Photo credit: JEFF HIGGOTT