PREVIEW: IPSWICH v OXFORD (ROWE MOTOR OIL PREM)

IPSWICH look to maintain their 100 per cent start to the season when they face Oxford in the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership at Foxhall tonight (Thursday).

The Witches have been successful in their first two matches on the road which both produced close encounters where strength down the order proved key despite the known power of their top two.

Their 48-42 victory at Cowley last week also means there is an aggregate point to go for in tonight’s return fixture.

Erik Riss scored 20 points for the Spires in that meeting, but the German is ruled out of the trip to his former club due to the shoulder injury he picked up last weekend. Justin Sedgmen guests for the visitors, who were expecting have Peter Kildemand back after his own crash a fortnight ago, but the Dane also misses out with rider replacement in operation.

Witches boss Ritchie Hawkins said: “Everyone will be looking forward to getting back to Ipswich, the track was superb in our last home meeting.

“We have had a couple of tricky away meetings, on slick, tough tracks. The way Ipswich is now, the boys will be looking forward to racing on that now.

“We were superb last week; Oxford have a lot of riders that are going to come and enjoy Foxhall this year and know the track well. They can certainly cause an upset if we are not on our game.

“This team is superb to watch, we had a great crowd against Belle Vue, and I hope everyone comes out and backs us again.”

IPSWICH: Jason Doyle, Danny King, Adam Ellis, Tom Brennan, Emil Sayfutdinov, Dan Thompson, Jordan Jenkins.

OXFORD: Rohan Tungate, Justin Sedgmen, Charles Wright, Peter Kildemand R/R, Maciej Janowski, Francis Gusts, Luke Killeen.

SCB Referee: Simon Humphrey-Kennett