Ipswich Witches take a narrow lead into the second leg at Rye House

Ipswich Witches head into the second leg of their KO Cup clash with Rye House tonight holding a slender two-point advantage.

Ahead of the first leg at Foxhall on Thursday night, team manager Ritchie Hawkins called for his side to build a substantial lead heading into the second leg at Hoddesdon, but the Witches were only able to come away with a 46-44 victory.

As a result, Hawkins and his side will now treat this evening’s return as a one-off meeting but believes his side possess the quality to win anywhere in the Premier League.

“It’s nowhere near as big a lead as we would have liked but that’s what we’ve got,” he said.

“Now we just have to go there as if it is a one off meeting and a meeting we have to win if we’re going to get through. We have a small lead but we know we need to win the meeting.

“With our team and the top five we’ve got we should be able to win anywhere, I believe that and I know we’re capable, so we just have to do it.”

The Witches already have bad memories at the home of the Rockets this season, having lost 53-39 there in their first Premier League meeting, but Hawkins doesn’t expect that to have any impact on this contest.

“I don’t think the result and performance we had there last time will have any bearing on this meeting at all.

“It wasn’t a good night for us then but it’s a new day and the riders have had more time on the bike since then. We’ve always gone well at Rye House in the past and to be honest it’s only Paco who hasn’t ridden there much.”

Rye House: Edward Kennett; Kasper Lykke; Cameron Heeps; Leigh Lanham; Stuart Robson; Peter Kargar; Ben Morley.

Ipswich: Danny King; James Sarjeant; Lewis Kerr; Morten Risager; Nico Covatti; Paco Castagna; Darryl Ritchings.