Jarek Hampel top-scored for Ipswich with 13 points

Ipswich Witches will take an eight-point lead into the second leg of their Knockout Cup clash with Wolves after a 50-42 win in Suffolk.

The Witches held a 14-point advantage going into the final two heats, only to be pegged back by wins for Nicolai Klindt and Niels Kristian Iversen.

Jarek Hampel top-scored for Ipswich with 13 points, while Iversen collected 12 for Wolves.

The second leg will be held at Wolves' Monmore Green track on Monday.

With Ipswich seemingly in charge, Klindt took heat 14 on his first visit to the Suffolk track, team-mate Ales Dryml coming in third.

Then Iversen and Freddie Lindgren, who scored 10 points, made it a Wolves one-two in the final heat, to keep their team very much in touch.

Hampel raced to four heat victories for Ipswich on his way to 13 points before he was beaten into third place in the last race, while Toby Kroner contributed nine points.

Ipswich team manager Pete Simmons, whose side have also been eliminated from the Craven Shield because of Lakeside Hammers' draw at Peterborough, told BBC Radio Suffolk he was disappointed with the final outcome.

Lindgren scored 10 points for Wolves, including a vital second place in heat 15

"I'm disappointed with the end result, we should've done better," he said. "I was looking for a 20-point lead for the second leg.

"We gave too many points away, so I called a meeting during the interval to gee them up.

"We weren't making starts which are very important. That shouldn't happen at our own track.

"We'll just to pull our socks up at Wolverhampton on Monday to turn this round.

"We have an eight-point lead and hopefully that will be enough."

The second leg at Monmore Green is on Monday 7 April, with tapes-up at 1930 BST.