Redcar SG Petch Bears v Ipswich Witches – Thursday 31st August – 7:30pm
Redcar SG Petch Bears will be looking to keep the pressure on the top 4, as they take on high-flying Ipswich at the Media Prima Arena on Thursday night (7:30pm start).
The Bears kept their challenge going with an important win over fourth placed Edinburgh last week, and boss Jitendra Duffill was delighted with all seven of his side:
We got off to a great start last week and it makes things so much easier when we don’t give the opposition a head start. Edinburgh fought back well but it was our strength in depth that saw our guests go home empty handed and I was pleased that we got contributions from everybody. Danny can feel a little unfortunate to lose a ride as he was doing his job well but Tobi was a little quicker and I had to make sure that we beat the Monarchs by at least 7 points.
Ipswich have had a fantastic season this year, and are now almost certain of a play-off place. The Bears however can take confidence from their 54-35 win over the Witches earlier in the season. With a couple of tricky away fixtures also coming up over the weekend, at Ipswich and Newcastle, Duffill is looking for a big effort from his side:
Another week and another top 4 team to test us! Ipswich are having a great season so far and this week isn’t going to be an easy one. Danny King and Rory Schlein are a powerful top 2 and the Witches will be keen to do much better than they did earlier this year. We still have a glimmer of hope of reaching the play offs and it’s up to us to put Edinburgh under as much pressure as possible. That means winning all of our remaining fixtures at home and I reckon we need at least 4 to 6 points on the road too. No easy task given the teams we have to achieve that against but challenging for league titles is never easy. This is the time we need to step it up and show ourselves as worthy contenders in what is probably going to be the most decisive week of our season so far!
The Bears are once again at full strength for the meeting – although will miss Ellis Perks for both away meetings who is away on Under 21 duty with Team GB. Tero Aarnio will guest in his place for both meetings. Ipswich come to Teesside with a very strong top 2 in Danny King and Rory Schlein, although they have some issues with injury and rider unavailability and so have a couple of guests. James Sarjeant will guest in place of Nathan Greaves who is on Premiership duty, whilst Kevin Doolan will guest for the injured Justin Sedgmen. The Witches will also operate r/r for the injured Cameron Heeps.
Redcar: Ben Barker, Ellils Perks, Jason Garrity, Jonas B Andersen, Charles Wright, Tobias Busch, Danny Ayres
Ipswich: Danny King, r/r for Heeps, Kevin Doolan, Kyle Newman, Rory Schein, James Sarjeant, Connor Mountain
