Peterborough Panthers v Ipswich Witches

IPSWICH are through to the Premiership KO Cup Final after restricting Peterborough to a 48-42 win in the second leg at the East of England Arena.

The Witches led the semi-final tie by 24 points from the earlier Foxhall meeting and were never seriously threatened after Jason Doyle and Erik Riss took a 5-1 in Heat 5, and they now face Sheffield in the Final.

Panthers captain Chris Harris put on a great show with 13+1 from five rides including wins over Doyle and Emil Sayfutdinov, with the Witches’ big two scoring 12 and 10+1 respectively.

Reserve Ben Cook weighed in with 12+1 for the Panthers but weekend signing Artem Laguta scored just one.

Ipswich manager Ritchie Hawkins said: “A good performance again against a really strong Peterborough team now. We didn’t let ourselves get into a position to worry and I leave the meeting very happy with the team.

“It is nice to see Keynan (Rew) and Erik doing well and I thought Danyon (Hume) rode better than his two points. Everyone contributed to the aggregate win, and we keep going on into the Cup Final, and it keeps morale high going into the massive meeting next week.”

Panthers boss Rob Lyon said: “With a six-point lead after four races I thought we could chip away and possibly have a chance of going through.

“Unfortunately they got a 5-1 in Heat 5 which was the turning point, and they kept themselves in the match enough to get the overall victory.

“It was the Bomber of old tonight, and we still know what he’s capable of at 40 years of age. He can still turn it on, that’s the way he is, and it was a great performance.”

PREMIERSHIP KO CUP S/F, 2nd leg
PETERBOROUGH 48: Chris Harris 13+1, Ben Cook 12+1, Benjamin Basso 7+1, Niels-Kristian Iversen 7+1, Vadim Tarasenko 5, Jordan Jenkins 3, Artem Laguta 1.
IPSWICH 42: Jason Doyle 12, Emil Sayfutdinov 10+1, Danny King 7, Erik Riss 6+2, Keynan Rew 5+1, Danyon Hume 2, Ashton Boughen 0.
Ipswich win 99-81 on aggregate

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Photo credit: JEFF DAVIES