Witches fail in double-header

Ipswich to face Poole in Play-Offs

Last updated: 26th September 2008   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Witches fail in double-header

Schlein: Top-scorer for Witches (Pic credit Les Aubrey)

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Ipswich know they will face league winners Poole Pirates in the Elite League play-offs after they failed to win their double-header on Thursday.

The Witches, riding two meetings in one evening to finish their league campaign, needed victories against both Poole and Coventry on the night and also attain a winning margin of more than 35 if they wanted to overhaul third placed Swindon, which would have given them a play-off match with second placed Lakeside.

But having beaten Poole 52-38 they got nowhere nearing putting the 21 points needed on Coventry, indeed they were held to a 45-45 draw by The Bees.

The opening meeting saw Ipswich claim a straightforward win over a surprisingly subdued Poole - who no doubt have won eye on Monday's play-off semi-final, which is live on Sky Sports 1.

Ipswich were led excellently by Aussie Rory Schlein with Jarek Hampel forced out of both meetings.

Schlein top scored in the opener with 13+1, whilst guest Chris Harris (10+1) and Robert Misckowiak (10+2) provided excellent back-up.

Poole could not boast a double figures score amongst them with both Chris Holder and Bjarne Pedersen top-scoring with nine.

But Ipswich left themselves with an uphill task to put more than 20 points on Coventry and it proved too much as last season's title winners claimed a draw, which meant they moved clear of the relegation play-off picture.

Schlein was again top-scorer for The Witches with 12+1 and again their guest was amongst the points as Davey Watt grabbed eight.

And their reserves Steve Johnston (7) and Chris Schramm (7+3) played a huge part in them claiming a draw.

Coventry borrowed Bjarne Pedersen from Poole to stand-in for Hans Andersen and he performed much better than he did in the opening clash as he scored an excellent 13+1.

Excellent back-up from Billy Janniro (9+1), Olly Allen (8+2) and Harris almost did the job for Coventry - but they just missed out.

Relegation picture

Coventry are now clear of both Peterborough and Belle Vue and cannot be dragged into the bottom two.

The Manchester outfit now find themselves in the bottom two after Peterborough claimed a 56-37 victory over Wolverhampton at the East of England Showground.

The Panthers have shown good form in recent weeks and have now given themselves a chance of not being involved in the relegation play-off - which will be against basement side Wolves.

They proved for too strong for Wolves with Kenneth Bjerre again leading the way with 14 points.

But there were no real weak links for The Panthers with Lukas Dryml (9+1), Danny King (9+1) and Ryan Sullivan (7+3) and Karol Zabik (8+1) all picking up big points.

Wolves were basically a three-man team with top-two Niels Kristian Iversen (12) and Freddie Lindgren (9+2) again providing the bulk of the points although reserve Nicolai Klindt will be more than pleased with his 11+1.

The relegation picture will be decided on Monday when Coventry travel to Manchester to face The Aces.

Victory for Belle Vue will guarantee their safety as, although they will finish on the same points as Peterborough, they have a far superior points difference.

Watch Poole v Ipswich and Lakeside v Swindon - Live, simultaneously, on Sky Sports 1 on Monday

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