Tungate ‘gutted’ as Witches now head west

Rohan Tungate admits to being ‘totally gutted’ after his costly last place in heat 15 against Berwick at Foxhall Stadium on Thursday night cost his side victory.

The Witches put on an abject performance, that included six falls and unable to turn over a four-point deficit from the first leg, while the Borders side simply rode their races with little fuss – led by former Witches skipper Kevin Doolan – they deservedly took the honours.

Tungate and his team-mates travel to Plymouth tonight in a League Cup southern group fixture knowing they have to win to make progress in the competition.

Lose, and the Witches only have the Premier League title to chase – they are currently bottom of the table.

“I’m totally gutted about that last race,” said Tungate.

“We should have won the meeting, everyone who was there saw that. But we didn’t and now we must beat Plymouth – as riders we want more meetings.

“I wouldn’t have minded that last race if it hadn’t meant so much to the team. I was pleased with the rest of my night. I’ve worked hard on getting new clutch plates and changing things to help me make starts and it came off.

“We had a get-together after the meeting and things were said. We know what we have to do at Plymouth, I’m confident there will be a positive reaction.”

In a meeting that saw every Witch, apart from Nico Covatti, hit the deck, Ipswich Witches boss Phil Hilton was left dumbfounded.

“I can’t explain what happened,” he said.

“I can only apologise to our fans because we should have won that meeting easily.

“We were falling off and getting excluded. It was like watching Gary Lineker run up to a penalty and trip over as he went to kick the ball.

“I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.”

And nor could most of the Witches fans present.

Tipped by many to win the title this season – the Witches have simply not performed as yet this campaign.

Injuries have certainly not helped their cause.

While last year the team went through the whole season without injury, just two months into this and already Ritchie Hawkins, Gino Manzares and Cameron Heeps have been, or are on, the injured list.

But excuses won’t wash with the paying Foxhall public.

Tungate and his team-mates need to walk the walk – and quickly.

Tonight’s teams

Plymouth: K Newman, S Simota, M Risager, J Holder, R Fisher, A Morris, R Konopka.

Ipswich : D King, G Manzares, N Covatti, R/R, R Tungate, S Nielsen, R Hawkins.

Thursday night’s scorers and heat details

Ipswich: D King 11, G Manzares 6, N Covatti 10+2, R/R, R Tungate 10+1, S Nielsen 4, R Hawkins 5+1

Berwick: B Barker 10+1, H Stichauer 1, K Doolan 12+1, T Jorgensen 4, C Vissing 7+1, D Halsey 1, A Morris 9+1

1 Barker, King, Stichauer, Manzares (f/x) 57.2 2-4

2 Nielsen, Hawkins, Morris, Halsey 60.3 7-5

3 Doolan, Manzares, Covatti, Jorgensen 58.9 10-8

4 Morris, Vissing, Hawkins, Tungate (f/x) 59.7 11-13

5 Covatti, Barker, Nielsen, Stichauer 57.3 15-15

6 King, Vissing, Manzares, Halsey (r) 57.0 19-17

7 Doolan, Tungate, Jorgensen, Nielsen 59.2 21-21

8 Morris, Manzares, Halsey, Hawkins (ex) 60.0 23-25

9 Covatti, Tungate, Vissing, Morris 58.4 28-26

10 King, Doolan, Manzares, Jorgensen 57.6 32-28

11 Tungate, Barker, Morris, Nielsen (f/x) 60.0 35-31

12 Doolan, Hawkins, Covatti, Morris 60.3 38-34

13 Tungate, Vissing, Barker, King (f/x) 61.2 41-37

14 Jorgensen, Covatti, Morris, Nielsen (f/r) 59.7 59.7

15 King, Barker, Doolan, Tungate 57.5 46-44

Agg: Ipswich 89 Berwick 91