IPSWICH Witches face their toughest home test for some weeks tonight, according to team boss Pete Simmons.
IPSWICH Witches face their toughest home test for some weeks tonight, according to team boss Pete Simmons.
Newcastle Diamonds are in town and, although the north-east side are lying low in the Premier League table, a catalogue of injuries is the prime course for that.
But with key men, Mark Lemon and Stuart Robson, now back in the fold, along with flying reserve Kyle Newman, the Diamonds are quite capable of giving the ‘Sackers’ Witches quite a run for the money tonight.
“With Robson and Lemon back they are now a strong side, belittling their league position.” Simmons said.
“They will be a tough nut to crack and I predict they will give us our first real test at Foxhall for a few weeks, so we will need to perform well to grab all three points.”
Newcastle pushed Ipswich close on their previous visit to Foxhall earlier in the season, losing by just 47 points to 44, with Robson in superb form.
With Glasgow seemingly poised for the Premier League title, the Witches can go continue their push for a top three place, and can indeed go third tonight ahead of Somerset in the table, should they pick up all three points.
“We know we can remain unbeaten at home for the remainder of the season, but must not take the Diamonds for granted as they have a few danger men in their side,” Simmons added.
“Our reserves, Chris Mills and Jerran Hart, may not have it all their own way this week.
“It would be nice for me to see that our reserves’ recent good form has not just been down to weak tail enders that have visited Foxhall in recent weeks.”
The Witches have still to visit Workington this season after last weekend’s clash was called off – for a fourth time.
For Simmons it’s all rather unbelievable.
“Workington called me at 8 am on Saturday morning and basically said that even it had stopped raining at 8 am, had been dry and sunny for the rest of the day, they still couldn’t have got the track fit by 7pm,” he said.
“Perhaps on October 22, when we are supposed to go back for one of the fixtures, we will do a double header, but I don’t know.”
Tonight however there is no double header and Ipswich will hope to keep their good run of home form going.
Ipswich: 1 Kevin Doolan 7.70, 2 Taylor Poole 6.47, 3 Mathieu Tresarrieu 7.05, 4 Morten Risager 5.95, 5 Lasse Bjerre 6.92, 6 Jerran Hart 4.40, 7 Chris Mills 5.16.
Newcastle: 1 Mark Lemon 9.18, 2 Derek Sneddon 5.56, 3 Joe Haines 5.00, 4 Stuart Robson 8.84, 5 Claes Nedermark 6.17, 6 Kyle Newman 4.31, 7 Richie Worrall 3.36
FOLLOW Mike Bacon on Twitter tonight from Foxhall @Mike_Bacon
Premier League table
P Pts.
Glasgow 31 77
Sheffield 34 68
Somerset 33 60
Ipswich 31 58
Workington 28 55
Scunthorpe 33 53
Rye House 33 51
Redcar 36 50
Newport 29 48
Edinburgh 32 48
Berwick 31 46
Newcastle 32 37
Leicester 35 24
Plymouth 30 19
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