Ipswich Witches 60 Berwick Bandits 30

Ipswich Witches handed out a severe beating to the poor Berwick Bandits at Foxhall Stadium on Thursday night.

The rampant home side who need to win their three remaining league fixtures, including this one, to stand any chance of reaching the end-of-season play-offs, were in no mood to give the Bandits an inch.

The home side may have been without skipper and No.1 Danny King (injured), as well as Nico Covatti (injured) and Ashley Morris (riding for King’s Lynn in the Elite League), but it mattered not.

Led by Rohan Tungate, guest Ricky Wells and Cameron Heeps, the Witches were supreme and they were buoyed with the news that play-off rivals Plymouth went down by eight points at lowly Redcar last night, meaning the Devils didn’t pick up a point.

The chase for the last play-off place is still in the Devils’ hands however, although if the Witches manage to win at Rye House tomorrow night, the pressure is very much on the West country side.

Back to Thursday night though – and the Witches were good from the off.

Heeps showed what a terrific racer he is with some breathtaking speed and in next season’s line-up, he should surely still be considered for a place even though he has endured a mixed season – he is still a talent.

Tungate is enjoying a purple patch right now and his gating was excellent. All in all the home side simply had too much in the locker and were never unduly troubled.

Ipswich: R Wells 13+1, C Heeps 12+3, G Manzares 7+2, R Tungate 16+1, R/R, S Nielsen 8+1, A Aarnio 4+1

Berwick: T Jorgensen 7, F Garcia 0, R/R, T Pijper 5+2, R Worrall 11, L Bowen 4, R Hall 3.

1 Wells, Heeps, Jorgensen, Garcia 57.6 5-1

2 Nielsen, Hall, Aarnio (15m), Bowen (ex) 59.4 9-3

3 Tungate, Worrall, Pijper, Manzares 58.7 12-6

4 Heeps, Worrall, Pijper, Manzares 57.4 16-8

5 Tungate, Manzares, Jorgensen, Garcia 58.5 21-9

6 Wells, Heeps, Worrall*, Bowen 59.5 26-10

7 Tungate, Pijper, Nielsen, Hall 58.9 30-12

8 Heeps, Aarnio, Hall, Garcia (e/f) 59.0 35-13

9 Tungate, Manzares, Bowen, Worrall (15m) 58.7 40-14

10 Wells, Heeps, Pijper, Hall (e/f) 59.5 45-15

11 Jorgensen, Wells, Nielsen, Garcia 59.9 48-18

12 Manzares, Bowen, Pijper, Aarnio 59.9 51-21

13 Worrall, Jorgensen, Wells, Manzares 60.1 52-26

14 Nielsen, Tungate, Bowen, Pijper (15m) 59.6 57-27

15 Worrall, Tungate, Wells, Jorgensen (15m) 59.5 60-30

*tac ride points count double

Ipswich 3 pts. Berwick 0 pts.

Premier League

P Pts.

Edinburgh 20 55

Glasgow 21 50

Sheffield 21 43

Somerset 19 41

Peterborough 18 41

Ipswich 22 36

Plymouth 19 30

Workington 19 27

Newcastle 20 21

Rye House 18 21

Redcar 19 18

Berwick 16 17

Scunthorpe 18 12