PREVIEW: IPSWICH v BELLE VUE (Prem)

BEN Barker makes his seasonal debut for Ipswich as the Witches open their Premiership campaign at home to Belle Vue tonight (Thursday).

Barker has come in for the Foxhall side as a replacement for Cameron Heeps after their disappointing League Cup campaign.

Meanwhile the Aces bid to build on a flying start to league competition after their huge win over Peterborough on Monday.

Witches boss Ritchie Hawkins said: “It’s our first Premiership meeting and the league season starts now. We have done all our practice now and we need to go into it with confidence that we can start our campaign off with a win.

“We have made a change to the side, and we look forward to welcoming Ben back, someone we all know well at Ipswich, and we know what a good job he can do.

“We welcome back Starkey (Paul Starke) and Anders (Rowe), we really missed them last week, so we are delighted to have them back in the side, that strengthens us up.”

Aces star Charles Wright said: “Ipswich have had a rough start to the year, and we can relate to that, so we won’t be taking anything for granted on Thursday, especially at Foxhall.

“They could just as easily do to us what we did to Peterborough so all the boys will need to be on point, but we’re approaching this meeting as we did Monday’s.

“I think it will be an interesting evening. Obviously, they have made a change with Ben Barker to try and strengthen up, but they should still be very aware of what we’re capable of.”

IPSWICH: Jason Doyle, Erik Riss, Danny King, Ben Barker, Troy Batchelor, Paul Starke, Anders Rowe.
BELLE VUE: Max Fricke, Jye Etheridge, Matej Zagar, Charles Wright, Brady Kurtz, Norick Blodorn, Tom Brennan.