Witches face 'Everest' second leg in Cup final

Image source, Getty Images

Image caption, Keynan Rew was the sole Ipswich race winner in the first leg

Ipswich Witches will face a challenge that "feels like Everest" in Thursday's second leg of their Premiership Knockout Cup final against Sheffield Tigers, according to promoter Chris Louis.

The injury-hit Witches trail by 20 points after losing 55-35 in South Yorkshire on Monday.

The Tigers overturned an 18-point deficit when they beat Ipswich to win their first Premiership title last year.

"The fact that we went there with what should have been a defendable lead and lost out, it would be great to do the same to them this year," Louis told ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio Suffolk.

"It's an uphill battle but we'll go all out for it and see what happens."

The Witches - who beat Sheffield 97-83 on aggregate in last year's Cup final - will have home advantage for the second leg.

But they will be without former world champion Jason Doyle, who was ruled out for the rest of the season in June to have shoulder surgery following a crash, and Emil Sayfutdinov.

He is still recovering, having been run over by a bike during a Premiership fixture against the Tigers earlier this month.

"We lost Jason quite early on in the season, before the midway point, and everyone said you can't cover for him, he's pretty much irreplaceable," Louis added.

"But we stayed top of the table and convincingly, so that when we lost Emil as well, we were able to remain in the play-offs and that's testament to the hard work from the entire team.

"Losing Emil was a blow too far - we built the team around having the best two riders in the league at the top end and you can't afford to lose them both.

"The team deserved silverware this year and it's going to be really tough to get any but we haven't given up."

Louis said their task had been made more difficult by the impressive recent form of Sheffield's Josh Pickering.

"He's been unbelievable for them in the engine room, riding at number four. He for me has made a massive difference to the strength of their side," he added.

"Without his form, I think we'd have been able to cope with them even with our serious injury woes."