PREVIEW: SHEFFIELD v IPSWICH (PREM KO CUP FINAL)

SHEFFIELD host Ipswich in the first leg of the Premiership KO Cup Final at Owlerton tonight (Monday) with top-flight silverware up for grabs this week.

The Witches defeated the Tigers to win the 2023 KO Cup Final before the Sheffield turned the tables in the league decider, and they once again find themselves meeting in a major Final.

Tigers operate rider replacement for the injured Tai Woffinden but are boosted by the return of Rising Star Dan Gilkes, whilst Ipswich have Adam Ellis back from concussion, and they bring in Jaimon Lidsey and Tom Brennan to guest for Jason Doyle and Emil Sayfutdinov.

Sheffield skipper Chris Holder said: “When the place has a big crowd in, the noise can be pretty unreal so hopefully we can give them more to shout about and hopefully we can all enjoy another big end of the year together again.
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With Ipswich, we always seem to have some big meetings; things have been pretty close between us all season up until the last few weeks and again, we’ve had some close run things with them.

“It would be nice to win the Knockout Cup and get it back after losing to Ipswich last year and it would be nice to get a trophy taking us into the play-offs as well.”

Ipswich boss Ritchie Hawkins said: “Sheffield is somewhere we have done well this year by being solid throughout, and that is something that we will need to do again on Monday. The meeting is over two legs, and I think it is going to be a tight battle throughout.

“With our recent troubles, Sheffield will be clear favourites, but we certainly won’t be giving up the trophy easily.

“We have had a tough few weeks but if anyone is going into the Cup Final thinking about that then they are in the wrong sport.”

The meeting in South Yorkshire will be covered by the British Speedway Network (BSN) on a delayed basis, and it will be available free to all after the completion of racing both there and in Monday’s televised league clash at King’s Lynn.

SHEFFIELD: Jack Holder, Kyle Howarth, Chris Holder, Josh Pickering, Tai Woffinden R/R, Jason Edwards, Dan Gilkes.
IPSWICH: Jaimon Lidsey, Keynan Rew, Danny King, Tom Brennan, Adam Ellis, Jordan Jenkins, Dan Thompson
SCB Referee: Paul Carrington

STREAMING: https://watch.britishspeedway.co.uk (available FREE TO ALL after the meeting)