TIGERS INFLICT WITCHES BLOW

SHEFFIELD collected maximum points against Ipswich in a dramatic finale at Owlerton as the aggregate point was decided in a Super Heat.

The Tigers were only four-up with four races remaining, but they collected 5-1s in Heats 12 and 14 to win the Sports Insure Premiership match 51-39 – mirroring the result from Foxhall last month.

Witches star Emil Sayfutdinov won Heat 15 but his team-mate Jason Doyle was penalised for touching the tapes – and with the aggregate scores level, another win for Sayfudtinov was not enough as Jack Holder and Tobiasz Muiselak held Doyle at bay in the Super Heat.

Holder and Musielak but scored 11+1 for Sheffield with reserve Kyle Howarth on 12+3, taking extra rides after Lewis Kerr was ruled out with a collarbone injury from a Heat 1 fall. Sayfudtinov racked up 16+1 for the Witches.

Tigers manager Simon Stead said: “We knew the importance of the result. We were desperate to maximise the amount of points we were taking out of the meeting, and we managed to do that.

“We knew that it was going to be tough and at one stage, we were struggling to gain any distance at all.

“Losing Lewi wasn’t ideal; juggling races and trying to maximise what we’d got from each and every heat. It was difficult, but credit to the lads, they pulled together, and they knew what they needed to do.”

Witches boss Ritchie Hawkins said: “I am extremely disappointed; we were in the meeting longer than we were last time we were here, but we dropped away again at the end.

“To even lose the aggregate point is dreadful, and obviously it really hurts our chances of making the top four.

“Everyone is leaving here very disappointed, but we go again on Thursday. We have got to pick ourselves up for that and keep fighting. We owe it to everyone and ourselves to keep fighting for the rest of the season and that is what we will do.”

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Photo credit: CHARLOTTE FLANIGAN