Glasgow Tigers 41 Ipswich Witches 52

Ipswich Witches produced their best away performance of the season to thrash fellow play-off challengers Glasgow Tigers in Scotland tonight.

The Foxhall side started well and never looked back against a team who may well prove to be their semi-final play-off opponents.

All the Witches did well with reserve Nathan Greaves especially impressive.

He reeled off three heat wins, while Rory Schlein was again impressive, losing just once in five starts.

With Danny King producing two fine rides in his last two rides, the Witches pretty well had all bases covered.

This should act as a huge confidence boost for the Suffolk side with the play-offs starting next week.

Glasgow’s Richie Worrall won heat one before Greaves won the first of his three heats in the next.

Heat three was a cracker. Ipswich’s guest for the night in place of the injured Cameron Heeps, Mark Riss, made the gate while Kyle Newman got the better of Richard Lawson. The Tiger set after Newman and passed him and then went past Riss too, before making an error as Riss nipped through for the win.

Rory Schlein made it three heat wins on the bounce for the Witches who had started well, as Mountain again stuck in a solid third place.

Ipswich led by six as Newman tucked in well behind partner Danny King.

The Tigers had a strong pairing out in heat six, with Worrall being joined by Aaron Summers. But Schlein was out of the gate like a rocket to head the two Tigers home.

This had been an impressive first half of the meeting from the Witches and Riss was proving a terrific guest.

He held off Summers’ attentions in heat seven as the Ipswich moved eight ahead.

The Suffolk side were 12 up after Schlein and Greaves gated to the front with the Scottish crowd left wondering what had happened to their high-flying team.

Lawson was out on a tactical ride in heat nine, up against the unbeaten Schlein. But it was Glasgow’s Ryan Douglas who gated. He let Lawson past before Schlein got past him as well and went after Lawson but to no avail.

The Witches lead was cut to seven.

Worrall won the next but the Witches were straight back on it as King made the start and Greaves came through to take the lead as the Witches had victory in their sights. But the Tigers hit back when Riss fell and was excluded in heat 12. However, Schlein and King sealed the victory in heat 13.

The Witches travel to Sheffield on Thursday night in their final Championship fixture of the regular season.

Scorers

Glasgow: R Worrall 10+1, R/R, R Lawson 15+1, R Douglas 3+1, A Summers 7, J Shanes 4, J Smith 2+1

Ipswich: D King 10+3, R/R, M Riss 10, K Newman 4+2, R Schlein 14, N Greaves 11+1, C Mountain 3

Heat details

1 Worrall, Riss, King, Smith (Fx) 57.6 3-3

2 Greaves, Shanes, Mountain, Smith 58.1 5-7

3 Riss, Lawson, Newman, Douglas 58.1 7-11

4 Schlein, Summers, Mountain, Smith 57.5 9-15

5 Lawson, King, Newman, Douglas 57.5 12-18

6 Schlein, Summers, Worrall, Greaves 57.8 15-21

7 Riss, Summers, Newman, Shanes (f) 58.9 17-25

8 Schlein, Greaves, Douglas, Shanes (R) 58.1 18-30

9 Lawson*, Schlein, Douglas, Mountain 59.0 25-32

10 Worrall, Riss, Newman, Smith 58.4 28-35

11 Greaves, King, Summers, Shanes 58.8 29-40

12 Lawson, Smith, Mountain, Riss (Fx) 58.9 34-41

13 Schlein, King, Worrall, Summers 58.9 35-46

14 Greaves, Shanes, Douglas, Newman (R) 60.1 38-49

15 King, Worrall, Lawson, Greaves 59.3 41-52

*tac ride points count double

Glasgow 0 pts. Ipswich 4 pts.

The Witches are in action again tomorrow night against Sheffield in the second part of a double header. The Witches clash will start at 9pm.