Ipswich were unable to improve their prospects of avoiding the wooden-spoon when they were convincingly beaten at Lakeside.

Lakeside 55 Ipswich 37

Match points: Lakeside 3 Ipswich 0

Ipswich were unable to improve their prospects of avoiding the wooden-spoon when they were convincingly beaten at Lakeside.

The visitors were effectively a three-man team with Daniel King and Scott Nicholls receiving support from Linus Sundstrom but there was little else on offer until a belated effort from Ales Dryml.

The home side quickly carved out a six-point lead before King gained the first of the visitors heat wins with a traps to line win in a shared heat 3 but the visitors were on the wrong end of a contentious decision and ultimately a 4-2 another 4-2 in the next.

Sundstrom gated but the referee called back the riders before warning the young Witches rider about moving at the start. In the restaging, Adam Shields shot clear chased by the unfortunate Sundstrom to leave the visitors trailing 16-8.

Nicholls dictated heat 5 with Slabon picking up a good third place to give the visitors their first heat advantage of the evening but the hosts hit back immediately with a facile maximum to open up a 10-points lead and another 4-2 when King split the home duo saw Sundstrom don the black and white helmet colour for heat 8.

The ploy though was only partially successful as Ljung got the drop with Slabon in pursuit although he did allow his partner through to reduce the deficit with a 5-3 advantage.

Again the reaction from the Hammers was positive with another 5-1 over the struggling Miskowiak and Smith pairing. Lakeside should have added another in heat 10 when Richardson showed a clean pair of heels to his rivals with Nieminen in second but the latter lost his racing line allowing King through before Ales Dryml drove hard inside his opponents for a shared heart and a 38-24 score.

The last throw of the dice was effectively rolled by Nicholls when taking a heat 11 tactical ride but to his dismay, Shields and Ljung trapped away leaving the Witches number one without hope.

The Witches did improve in the closing stages rounding off with four shared heats including a good effort in heat 13 when Nicholls and Miskowiak teamed up to keep Shields at the back.

Dryml came to the fore in the penultimate heat when he pressured Legault for a couple of laps before moving into the lead to record his side’s third heat win of the night and Nicholls claimed his second heat win when dominating the finale.

Heat by heat details:

1 Richardson, Nicholls, Ljung, Slabon,57.9 (4-2)

2 (rerun) Robson, Legault, Sundstrom, Smith 59.4 (9-3)

3 King, Nieminen, Davidsson, Dryml 58.6 (12-6)

4 Shields, Sundstrom, Robson, Miskowiak 57.9 (16-8)

5 Nicholls, Nieminen, Slabon, davidsson 58.6 (18-12)

6 Richardson, Ljung, Miskowiak, Smith 58.2 (23-13)

7 Shields, King, Legault, Dryml 57.5 (27-15)

8 Ljung, Sundstrom (tactical ride), Slabon, Robson 59.0 (30-20)

9 Nieminen, Davidsson, Miskowiak, Smith 58.9 (35-21)

10 Richardson, King, Dryml, Ljung 58.6 (38-24)

11 Shields, Legault, Nicholls, Slabon 58.3 (43-25)

12 Nieminen, King, Sundstrom, Robson 59.0 (46-28)

13 Richardson, Nicholls, Miskowiak, Shields 58.2 (49-31)

14 Dryml, Legault, Davidsson, Sundstrom 59.0 (52-34)

15 Nicholls, Shields, Nieminen, King 59.2 (55-37)

Lakeside: Lee Richardson 12, Peter Ljung 6+1, Kauko Niemenen 10+2 , Jonas Davidsson 5+2 , Adam Shields 11, Kyle Legault 7+2, Stuart Robson 4. .

Ipswich: Scott Nicholls 12, Chris Slabon 2+1, Danny King 9, Ales Dryml 4+1 , Robert Miskowiak 3+1 , Kozza Smith 0 , Linus Sundstrom 8+1.