Speedway: Visitors draft in guest as Sheffield hope for electric atmosphere against Ipswich

Sheffield will face an Ipswich side including Ryan Douglas when they line up against the league leaders on Monday night at Owlerton.

The Australian has been brought in by the visitors as a guest in place of the injured Danny King, in the first meeting between the two teams since last year’s Premiership Grand Final in October.

The Tru7 Group Tigers have won four meetings on the spin in all competitions whilst the Witches have lost just once so far, and Sheffield produced a late comeback to dump rivals Belle Vue out of the Knockout Cup in a Super Heat on Thursday.

Tigers skipper Kyle Howarth is hoping for an atmosphere at Owlerton similar to that seen when the Tigers beat Belle Vue last week, when they face a strong Ipswich team who are hoping to record their first win at Sheffield since 2014.

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He said: “Like ourselves, Ipswich have built another strong, similar looking side with a very strong top end, and it’s going to be another great meeting.

“After a real battle the past couple of home meetings, it would be nice if we could lay down a bit of a marker with an even bigger win – but as long as we get the two league points, I guess it doesn’t matter what the final score is.

“The atmosphere on Thursday was electric; the fans got going, they were all cheering and chanting towards the end and there’s no doubt about it, that made a big difference - hopefully we’ll get more of the same on Monday.”

Ipswich include current World Championship  leader Jason Doyle as well as former Tiger Adam Ellis.

Ipswich team manager Ritchie Hawkins said their guest, Douglas, was brilliant for them when he rote for them at Belle Vue recently.

He said: “We are using Ryan Douglas as a guest again; he was brilliant at Belle Vue and fits into the team really nicely and we look forward to having him back again.

“We met Sheffield in the cup final and play-off final last year and both teams will be favourites to be up there and do it again. We got the better of them in the cup and they got the better of us in the play-offs and in the early league meetings between us it would be great to get an away win on the board. We have got the bonus point to play for too so it would be nice to get one over on them early doors, but it is not vital in the play-off race as things stand.

“I’m not entirely sure why we haven’t won at Sheffield for so long, it is very different to the Ipswich track but the amount we ride on different circuits these days, home advantage isn’t quite as prevalent as it used to be. It is nice to know that I featured in our last win there and it would be great to be the team manager for our next one! We will keep working hard at it and see if we can put together 15 solid heats and push them close or try and nick a victory.”

Turnstiles open at 6pm on Monday.

Sheffield: Jack Holder, Kyle Howarth, Chris Holder, Josh Pickering, Tai Woffinden, Jason Edwards, Dan Gilkes. Ipswich: Emil Sayfutdinov, Dan Thompson, Adam Ellis, Ryan Douglas, Jason Doyle, Keynan Rew, Jordan Jenkins.