The Ipswich ‘Tru7 Group’ Witches head to Leicester tonight for the second leg of their ROWE Motor Oil Premiership play-off semi-final tie.

The two sides met at Foxhall on Monday in the first leg with the Witches perhaps surprising a few onlookers as they ended their eight-match winless run with a 49-41 victory over the in-form Lions. The lead was 16 points at one stage and Leicester will have been pleased to leave Suffolk just eight points down, having not performed at their best.

The visitors continue to be without three of the team due to injuries. Jan Kvěch deputises for long-term absentee Jason Doyle at number one, whilst Ashton Boughen is in again for the injured Jordan Jenkins at reserve who has suspected ligament damage in his thumb and a chipped bone.

Despite racing in Poland last weekend, Emil Sayfutdinov is not yet fit to return to a full schedule of racing and Tom Brennan guests in his place. Team manager Ritchie Hawkins has moved captain Danny King to number two for this fixture, with Adam Ellis going to number five.

Ipswich have enjoyed plenty of success at Leicester in recent years and have beaten the Lions twice this season at the Pidcock Motorcycles Arena. The last fixture there in July ended in a 53-37 defeat and the Witches must avoid losing by more than seven points if they are to progress to the play-off final for the second year in a row.

Team manager Ritchie Hawkins said: “We have the same team out on Thursday and have swapped Danny and Adam around for the night. Truth be told, I had a premonition that was going to be the best way to go to help us win the meeting, so there you go.

“We start from scratch on Thursday and will look to win the meeting. We have had a lot of success there in the past and have riders that can win races there and perform well there. Everyone in the team is up for getting themselves another two meetings by getting to that Grand Final.

“The underdog mentality is not something we have spoken about. You can see a great difference in the last two meetings compared to the last few league meetings which had little significance. These last two meetings at home, everyone has stepped it back up a gear and I think we can take a lot of confidence into Thursday, and everyone seems to be fully focused again when we probably weren’t over the last month.

“People will have seen that Emil rode in Poland on Sunday night but did not ride for us on Monday. He is not fit enough yet to take on a full schedule. There is a big difference in racing one meeting at your home club and then having four or five days recovery when you are injured. That is a big difference to racing one day, taking a flight and travelling to another meeting in a different country and then doing the same again and not having any days off or rest. The facts are that he is not fit enough to race for us at the moment. I know he would love to and maybe if we were in the second semi-final he would be back with us but that is not the case.”

LEICESTER: 1. Max Fricke 8.70 © 2. Richard Lawson 7.21 3. Sam Masters 7.17 4. Luke Becker 6.17 5. R/R for Ryan Douglas 7.59 6. Lewi Kerr (G) 5.03 7. Sam Hagon (RS). Team Manager: Stewart Dickson

IPSWICH: 1. Jan Kvěch (G) 9.36 2. Danny King 6.48 © 3. Keynan Rew 5.43 4. Tom Brennan (G) 9.12 5. Adam Ellis 5.61 6. Ashton Boughen (G) 3.74 7. Dan Thompson (RS). Team Manager: Ritchie Hawkins