IPSWICH ‘Sackers’ Witches have left themselves plenty to do after going down by 14 points at Somerset on Friday night in the League Cup final first leg.

IPSWICH ‘Sackers’ Witches have left themselves plenty to do after going down by 14 points at Somerset on Friday night in the League Cup final first leg.

The Suffolk side would have wanted to keep it much closer than this to give themselves a good chance of victory in the second leg at Foxhall on Thursday.

As it is, they will have to pull out all the stops.

“It’s still do-able,” said Witches team boss Pete Simmons.

“But they rode hard. If we went wide, they went wider, they were really on it tonight.

“Dak (Dakota North) and Leigh (Lanham) were on the pace and Taylor (Poole) blew another engine.

“With a bit of luck we could have only lost be seven or eight, Dak shed a chain when leading with Taylor in heat three, but it’s disappointing to lose by 14.”

The meeting started off evenly and the first five heats were shared.

It was just the start Ipswich had wanted, not to let the Rebels get ahead in the early stages.

Indeed it could have been better for Ipswich had North not shed a chain when he and Taylor Poole were on a 5-1 in heat three.

Jesper Monberg passed the disappointing Morten Risager in heat five as the Witches failed to take the lead and it proved costly.

Somerset guest Ryan Fisher and Alex Davies sped to a 5-1 maximum in heat six.

And although North won heat seven, Davies was at it again, this time combining with Kyle Newman for another maximum.

The meeting was suddenly getting away from the Suffolk side, with only North stopping the Rebels from piling up the points.

Lanham was another in the mix and he and Claus Vissing had a tremendous battle for the victory in heat 11, with the Somerset man coming out on top.

Somerset led by 10 and Simmons had to use a tactical rider, as heat 12 was his last opportunity, with it not being allowed from heat 13 onwards.

Mat Tresarrieu was given the duty, despite only having two points from three rides and he did well, leading at one point, before Monberg passed him.

Poole bravely got third and Ipswich got a crucial heat advantage. There was still much to do however and things didn’t get any better as Somerset hammered home another maximum in heat 13.

IPSWICH will race two cup finals in two days this week at Foxhall, as Newcastle visit on Saturday for the first leg of the KO Cup final. The second leg is the next night.