The Evening Star Ipswich Witches welcome the Wolverhampton Wolves to Foxhall stadium this Thursday August 21st for an Elite League encounter that they know they must capitalise on to continue their progress towards the 2008 playoffs.
Wolverhampton currently occupy the bottom spot in the league, and are out of the hunt for League honours this season. They have yet to score a League point away from home in this campaign and will know that they have the power to spoil the Witches season should they manage to turn it around on Thursday evening.
Wolves have brought Monmore Green favourite and former Witch Jesper B Monberg [formerly Jensen] back into their side to bolster the ranks after a disappointing start to the season. He was involved in a crash in his opening ride of Wolves 47-43 win over Coventry on Monday evening and was withdrawn after a blow to the head. The former world under-21 champion should be fit to take his place in the side on Thursday. The remainder of the side on display this week appeared when the Wolves last came to Foxhall back in early May with varying degrees of success, however Christian Heffenbrock has been dropped from the side that were beaten 53-38 on that occasion.
GP stars Freddie Lindgren and Niels-Kristian Iversen impressed with scores of 13 and 12+2 respectively, while 26 year old Brit David Howe scored a credible 8 points. Wolves heat leaders scored 33 of their team’s points that evening, as the second strings and reserves struggled to hold the Witches back. Nicolai Klindt managed just 1 that evening riding at number 4, and has dropped down to reserve with the departure of Heffenbrock. Ales Dryml remains at number 2, and could also only manage 1 point last time. Kenneth Hansen scored 1+1 last time and remains at reserve. Howe has moved to number 4 in the side to allow Monberg a heat leader role at Number 5.
The Witches take to their home track on Thursday with a full 1-7 line up, excluding guests, for the first time since late April. Rory Schelin makes his home debut as a fully fledged Witch, while Piotr Swiderski returns to action since damaging his hand following the home defeat to Lakeside three weeks ago. After taking the 3 points away at Eastbourne on Saturday the Witches will know that they need to win to continue to make the most of the 4 meetings they have in hand over their playoff rivals. With Wolves struggling at the basement of the table, Thursday’s match really is a must win encounter, and the Witches will need the backing of their fans on Thursday to make sure that they can edge them out and get another two vital Elite League points.
