Ipswich Witches v Sheffield Tigers

IPSWICH took a big step towards confirming ROWE Motor Oil Premiership play-off qualification with a 48-42 win over Sheffield – with the aggregate point also useful for the visitors.

That point leaves the Tigers six ahead of fifth-placed King’s Lynn with two matches remaining, but with a vastly superior race points advantage over the Stars.

The Witches, meanwhile, are five points clear of their local rivals which means they could require one more victory to make sure of progression.

It was a close contest at Foxhall with the scores level after Heat 13 before the Witches took a 4-2 in Heat 14, followed by a 5-1 in the decider from skipper Danny King and Tobiasz Musielak.

King scored 13 from five rides with Musielak carding 12+2, whilst Leon Flint (11) and Josh Pickering (10+1) were top scorers for the Tigers.

Said King: “It’s so stressful when it’s that tight, and especially when we know we need the points.

“Obviously the plan was to try and get the bonus, but they were just too strong. Every time we won a race and rode well, they tucked in and got the 3-3.

“It went down to the wire. That was a big race in Heat 14 to get the heat advantage and take a little bit of pressure off, but we still needed to go and finish the job in Heat 15.”

Sheffield manager Simon Stead said: “Approaching the meeting, having not being able to successfully get a guest in (for Jack Holder), I’ll be honest, I was looking at making sure that we took the aggregate point home as being the most important thing.

“But full credit to the lads, even more so after a little bit of a slowish start, they went out there and really attacked the meeting.

“We really got into a flow, and yes we may have just come up short in the end on the night, but we did more than enough to win the aggregate point and for me, there were plenty of positives we can take away once again.”

IPSWICH 48: Danny King 13, Tobiasz Musielak 12+2, Adam Ellis 8+1, Tom Brennan 6+2, Richard Lawson 4+1, Kevin Juhl Pedersen 3, Jason Edwards 2.
SHEFFIELD 42: Leon Flint 11, Josh Pickering 10+1, Jye Etheridge 8+3, Chris Holder 6+1, Luke Killeen 5, Anders Rowe 2+1, Jack Holder R/R.
Sheffield win the aggregate point

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Photo credit: JEFF HIGGOTT