The Ipswich Witches made it four wins in a row with a narrow 47-43 victory away at Peterborough in the Premiership last night.
The Panthers brought in Chris Harris as a new signing a day before the fixture to give them a boost but lost Vadim Tarasenko on the day of the meeting due to family reasons with rider replacement being used in his absence.
Ipswich started strongly but were soon pegged back by Peterborough who then built a six-point lead by heat 10.
The Suffolk side ended strongly though to pick up an important two league points as well as the bonus point, a result that edged the Witches into the top four.
Emil Sayfutdinov top scored with a sublime 15-point maximum. Erik Riss also impressed with 8+2.
Witches' team boss Ritchie Hawkins said: "It is another victory and that is what we needed, and it was a really close meeting.
"Emil was exceptionally fast and was a joy to watch again. It was brilliant to see Erik back, from that first heat you could see him grow into the meeting and I also thought our reserves did brilliantly as well.
“It was great to see Erik score well and it is something for him to now work on, progress from and keep going.
"It should do him the world of good with his confidence and it was vital for us and needed. Danny scored steady points and to have Erik scoring points in the side with him really helps and that made a massive difference.
“All we can do is keep winning and getting as many points as we can on the board and hope someone else slips up.
"That hasn’t happened yet, but we just need to keep winning and we are home and away against King’s Lynn now and we need to take five points and that is all we can do.”
The Witches now host King's Lynn at Foxhall on Thursday night.
PETERBOROUGH 43: Chris Harris (c) 4+1, Vadim Tarasenko R/R, Benjamin Basso 11+1, Ben Cook 7+1, Niels-Kristian Iversen 6+1, Patryk Wojdylo 12, Jordan Jenkins (RS) 3. Team Manager: Rob Lyon
IPSWICH 47: Emil Sayfutdinov 15 (Maximum), Erik Riss 8+2, Danny King (c) 6, Keynan Rew 0, Jason Doyle 9+1, Danyon Hume 4+1, Dan Thompson (RS) 5+1. Team Manager: Ritchie Hawkins
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here