WITCHES EXTEND ADVANTAGE

IPSWICH became the first team to secure their place in the Premiership play-offs with a 53-37 win over Wolverhampton at Foxhall.

The league leaders extended their lead at the top to seven points with an ultimately comfortable victory over an injury-hit visiting side.

Wolves’ Ryan Douglas was ruled out on the day after his CLRC crash, whilst Steve Worrall aggravated a back injury in Heat 1 and could take no further part.

Jason Doyle scored a paid maximum (11+1) from four rides, a total matched by Troy Batchelor and reserve Aaron Summers, whilst Nick Morris (12+1) and Luke Becker (11+1) provided the bulk of the Wolves scoring.

Ipswich boss Ritchie Hawkins said: “Once Steve pulled out after Heat 1, we kind of knew they would be heavily relying on their reserves and by the end of the meeting that was going to be tough on them.

“In the end it was a comfortable win for us, but Wolverhampton were very short of riders. We had some good performances, but we can’t get too carried away with this result against a five-man team.

“Aaron was superb, as was Danyon (Hume). We were very strong at reserve tonight and we definitely saw what Aaron is capable of, and that is great going forward into the play-offs if he is in that form.

“Danyon stepped it up another gear tonight, he made that little breakthrough that we have seen coming for a long while, and it was probably his best performance of the year.”

OFFICIAL REFEREE SCORECARD
Available here

Photo credit: JEFF HIGGOTT