Ipswich Witches spell toil and trouble for Glasgow Tigers

Tigers rider Richard Lawson (pic by Ian Adam)

The Tigers fell to their fifth defeat in seven - ending their hopes of finishing second in the SGB Championship.

The best they can hope for now is third, and will battle it out with Edinburgh on Friday night to finish there.

But they could yet fall out of the top four - and the playoffs - should they fail to take any points from their weekend's fixtures and Redcar pick up spoils on the road.

The home team had fallen 12 behind in the meeting until Richard Lawson bagged a 7-2 with Ryan Douglas in heat eight to reduce the deficit to seven.

The sides exchanged 5-1s in heats 11 and 12, before impressive visiting top two Danny King and Rory Schlein raced clear for a maximum over Richie Worrall and Aaron Summers in heat 13 to make it 35-46.

The match ended 41-52 in favour of the visitors, who go top.

Lawson, who top scored with paid 16, insists the Tigers are still set up for success - but may need to "hit the reset button" in a bid to save their season.

He said: "We're very frustrated - it wasn't the result we wanted. We expected a tough match, but I thought even with the guests we would be able to pull through it.

"We're bitterly disappointed and we need to bounce back, because the race for the playoffs is getting a bit tight now.

"It's not good for team morale and things like that. In saying that, everyone is still positive - it's just not coming together as we would like."

After facing the Monarchs on Friday, Glasgow host Redcar on Saturday night and Peterborough on Sunday afternoon, before Sunday night's cut-off for the playoffs.

Lawson added: "This weekend is crucial - if we can get a good result at Edinburgh and then two home wins under our belt, it will lift everyone.

"The guys that are struggling, we need to look at their setups and help them as much as we can. The track is good, there can't be any excuses there - everything is in place for us to win and get back to how we were earlier in the summer.

"I did it myself, I had a bit of a blip and sometimes you've got to look at it, hit the reset button and go again. But we need to do that quickly."