Ritchie Hawkins has insisted his Ipswich Witches riders won’t need any extra motivation, despite going into tomorrow night’s meeting at home to Sheffield having already exited the League Cup.

The Witches pushed the Tigers close on their own track on Thursday night before going down 47-43, but the losing bonus point wasn’t enough to keep their cup hopes alive.

Despite their early exit from the competition, Hawkins insisted the meeting was still an important one for his side and that his riders will be making sure their preparations are right, ahead of back-to-back Premier League meetings with Somerset next week.

“We need to keep up our improvement from here and it’s important we win on Saturday,” said Hawkins.

“We need to improve again on last week at Foxhall ready for the Premier League next week against Somerset, where it all starts properly with two meetings in two days.

“I won’t have to gee them (the riders) up to do anything. They’re going to be out there sticking to their plans and improve in the League Cup, ready for the Premier League. That was our plan and that is what is happening. In that respect it is going according to plan at the moment and I’m happy with their improvement and their effort, so we just need to carry that on come Saturday.”

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

Tigers: Simon Stead, Demitri Berge, Kyle Howarth, Josh Bates, Jason Garrity, Richard Hall, Nathan Greaves.