Wolves move step closer to securing play-off spot
Wolverhampton's wait to secure their play-off places goes on – but they moved another step closer with victory over Ipswich.
The Parrys International Wolves won 46-44 to maintain their unbeaten home record and add two more points to their tally.
But it wasn’t by the five point margin required to win on aggregate and officially book their place in the top four.
Steve Worrall, on his first home appearance since earning the British Grand Prix Wild Card spot, won the opener before Ipswich took the lead in the reserves’ race when Leon Flint suffered a mechanical failure.
Wolves edged ahead with a 5-1 from Luke Becker and Ryan Douglas in Heat Three before Ipswich’s spearhead of Jason Doyle and Emil Sayfutdinov took the next three races between them to bring the visitors back level, with Douglas producing a smart outside pass to get by Erik Riss to deny the Witches a 5-1 in Heat Five.
Rory Schlein and Zach Cook combined for the hosts’ second maximum of the night to move them four ahead in the seventh before both Flint and Worrall worked their way by Jason Edwards to claim second and third in Heat Eight.
Doyle proved unstoppable once again in the re-run of Heat Nine - and was eligible as a tactical substitute after Masters and Worrall registered a 4-2 in the tenth. It was actually Schlein who made the best start to Heat 11 though, but a slight error out of bend two allowed Doyle and Sayfutdinov to charge up the inside to reduce the gap back down to two.
Flint produced a stunning ride around the boards to take Heat 12 before an epic race unfolded in Heat 13. With Sayfutdinov clear, Schlein and Masters outbattled Doyle on more than one occasion to end the Aussie’s unbeaten run.
Cook forced an error from Keynan Rew in Heat 14 to link up with Douglas for a match winning 5-1 - but that took the aggregate point down to another tense decider at Monmore.
Doyle and Sayfutdinov flew away from the starts though and Masters and Schlein had no answer on this occasion, leaving the Wolves needing one more point from their remaining five regular league fixtures.
Wolves travel to Sheffield on Thursday (August 24, 7.30) before hosting the Tigers at Monmore Green next Monday (August 28, 8pm) which will see the return of triple World Champion Tai Woffinden.
WOLVERHAMPTON 46: Ryan Douglas 8+2, Rory Schlein 8, Sam Masters 7+1, Steve Worrall 6+2, Zach Cook 6+2, Leon Flint 6+1, Luke Becker 5.
IPSWICH 44: Jason Doyle 15, Emil Sayfutdinov 12+2, Danyon Hume 6, Erik Riss 5+1, Danny King 4+1, Keynan Rew 1, Jason Edwards 1.
