Speedway: Ipswich Witches' dream of a top four finish in the balance after Wolverhampton loss
They are relying on other teams dropping points to make it now
Last updated 22nd Aug 2023
The Ipswich Witches' dreams of a place on the top four play offs is looking less likely.
It's after a 46-44 loss to Wolverhampton last night, meaning they fell short of picking up all three points they desperately needed in their play-off chase.
The Witches did end up picking up the aggregate bonus point.
Ipswich took an early heat two lead and were still level with their hosts after heat six, but the home side went six up by heat 10, before Emil Sayfutdinov and Jason Doyle reduced the arrears to two with three heats to go.
Wolves clinched the victory in the penultimate heat, before Ipswich’s top pairing of Sayfutdinov and Doyle sealed a heat 15 1-5 maximum to give Ipswich a point on the night.
Witches team manager Ritchie Hawkins gave his thoughts on the defeat:
“I thought it was a great performance, and I can’t fault the team. Ordinarily you would be happy with that result at Wolves, picking up the bonus point. But obviously we’ve left ourselves with such a big gap to make up, it looks like not being enough.
“There was rain before the start and the track was tricky. But the boys put everything into it and at times got caught out. But certainly, I can’t fault them for that.
“I would rather they were putting themselves on the edge to try and get the win rather than taking the easy option and losing anyway.
“We’ve got two league meetings left, starting on Thursday against Leicester. We must win them, and we’ll have to see if anything happens elsewhere to get us in the play-offs.
“We’ve got the Knockout Cup to go for which I like to think we’ll get into the final after we race at Peterborough next week.
“So, two more wins in the league and then we can go into the cup final with confidence and look to finish the season with a trophy.”
The Witches have two more meetings in the regular season to race, and remain in fourth place.
If they pick up the six points on offer they will give themselves an outside chance of staying in the top four, but they are relying on other teams dropping points.
Ipswich host the Leicester Lions at Foxhall Stadium on Thursday 24th August in the Premiership.