SHEFFIELD boss Simon Stead says his side are “pumped” to pick up more silverware.
The Tigers take a huge 20-point lead to Ipswich tonight (Thursday) for the second leg of the Premiership KO Cup Final, live on BSN.
The Yorkshire side dominated on their home circuit on Monday to run up a 55-35 win and they will be favourites to clinch the silverware at Foxhall – with the Witches desperate to fight back as they defend the trophy.
Stead said: “Ourselves and Ipswich have built up a little bit of a rivalry over these past 12 months or so and you can feel that whenever we both meet.
“The lads appear to be even more pumped to get some more silverware and they’ve put us in a really good position heading to Foxhall.
“We saw how strong they can start meetings the last time we went there a couple of weeks ago so we’ll take note of that.
“But the lads really are buoyant at this moment in time and they’re adamant they’re not going to defend our 20 point lead, they’d love to try and win the second leg as well.”
Tom Brennan once again steps in for the home side, who operate rider replacement at No.1, and Jordan Jenkins is out with a wrist injury after crashing at Oxford on Wednesday. James Pearson guests at reserve.
Meanwhile Sheffield continue to use r/r for Tai Woffinden who has now confirmed he will be ruled out for the remainder of the campaign.
Ipswich manager Ritchie Hawkins said: “We saw in last year’s play-off final what Sheffield did to us in the second leg of that, things happen in sport.
“We are massive underdogs and face an uphill task, but we will be out there giving it everything.
“We don’t want to let the trophy go that we have worked so hard for, and the boys have shown enough this year for everyone to know what they are about and how hard they are going to fight.
“We need to start well and get momentum going early and keep it going from there. It looks like we will need a near-perfect night from everyone, and obviously that is what we will be going out aiming to do.”
IPSWICH: Jason Doyle R/R, Adam Ellis, Keynan Rew, Tom Brennan, Danny King, James Pearson, Dan Thompson.
SHEFFIELD: Jack Holder, Kyle Howarth, Chris Holder, Josh Pickering, Tai Woffinden R/R, Jason Edwards, Dan Gilkes.
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Words by Holeshot Media.
Images by Taylor Lanning.