IPSWICH Witches secured a fantastic four points with victory at Rye House on Saturday night, setting up a mouth-watering Premier League double-header with Edinburgh, later this week.

Led by Leigh Lanham and Morten Risager, who both picked up paid 11, the Witches stormed to a 50-43 victory, to delight their travelling fans that had made the journey from Suffolk, and remain in contention for an all-important top-six spot.

Ipswich actually dropped a place to seventh, despite the win, courtesy of Edinburgh’s form over the weekend which saw them leapfrog the Witches, following the Monarchs’ 52-29 humbling of Redcar, in Scotland on Friday and a 50-40 victory at Berwick some 24 hours later.

Ipswich are just a point behind Edinburgh but with the Scottish team having three games in hand on Pete Simmons’ team, two wins from two – starting at Foxhall on Thursday evening – are a must.

“We could not do anymore than we did and we picked up the maximum four points,” said a satisfied Simmons.

“Those four points are vital for the rest of this week and I will be loooking for more of the same on Thursday and Friday.”

Ipswich were 16 points ahead during one part of the race and with Rye House failing to make the most of one of their tactical rides when Jason Doyle was excluded for knocking Morten Risager off his machine, it was left to Lanham to wrap up the four points in the final race of the evening.

After an inconsistent season, Simmons was also pleased to see all of his team in the points, including guest rider Stefan Nielsen from the Mildenhall Fen Tigers.

“He (Nielsen) did really well,” said Simmons.

“Stefan had a bit of a break between his third and fourth race and that threw him a bit but he did everthing asked of him.

“He looks like our best option to ride as a guest, while Cameron Heeps remains injured, against Edinburgh.”

n Did you go to Rye House? Are the Witches top-six material? Contact us: sport@eadt.co.uk