Play-off preview: Pirates v Ipswich

Danny Ford believes momentum could be the difference when the Pirates head into battle against Ipswich tomorrow.

Having secured top-spot in the SGB Premiership standings with a superb four-point away win at King’s Lynn a week ago, the Pirates chose to face the Witches in a two-legged play-off semi-final this week.

The Pirates go into the first leg at Wimborne Road tomorrow (7.30pm), with Monday's original date having been put back due to wet weather on the south coast, on the back of three big wins – including last week’s 51-39 triumph against the Witches on home shale.

The visitors, meanwhile, have lost three of their last four regulation meetings, including two against the Pirates home and away.

And co-promoter Ford believes that form could play a key part when the two sides go head-to-head tomorrow and at Foxhall on Saturday.

Ford said: “Momentum in sport is huge and if you look at the recent results for both sides, you’d say that falls in our favour.

“We’ve hit a good patch of form at the right time, but we won’t be taking anything for granted.

“Yes, we beat Ipswich heavily on our track just last week, but I know they will have used that meeting to experiment with track set-ups as nothing was riding on it for them.

“They’ve clearly done their homework so we’ll need to continue the momentum we’ve started if we’re to get past them and into the final.”

Both sides go into tomorrow’s clash at full strength, with Witches spearhead Niels-Kristian Iversen fresh from a five-point outing at the British Grand Prix in Cardiff on Saturday.

Fellow Witches Danny King and Chris Harris were track reserves for the event, but both were not needed.

Pirates: Brady Kurtz, Nico Covatti, Nicolai Klindt, Josh Grajczonek, Jack Holder, Thomas H Jonasson, Ricky Wells.

Witches: Niels-Kristian Iversen, Cameron Heeps, Chris Harris, Richard Lawson, Danny King, James Sarjeant, Jake Allen.