Sheffield Tigers celebrate 'special' Premiership title after beating Ipswich Witches

Sheffield Tigers celebrate lifting speedway's Premiership trophy for the first time in their history

Sheffield Tigers overcame an 18-point Grand Final first-leg deficit to beat Ipswich Witches and claim their first-ever Premiership title.

Ipswich won 54-36 in Suffolk on Tuesday but the Tigers claimed a 56-34 victory on Thursday to win 92-88 on aggregate.

"It's unbelievable," team manager Simon Stead told BBC Radio Sheffield.

"I don't think many people gave us much chance after a poor display on Tuesday but we believed and we knew we'd come out here fighting."

He added: "Emotionally, what a night. To do it in front of the Sheffield public makes it that bit extra special.

"The level of progress we've seen over the past few years has been fantastic. We need to build on that."

Ipswich 'fed up' with second place

Witches manager Richie Hawkins has now led his side to the Grand Final on three occasions and lost, after defeats in 2017 and 2019.

"This is my third time stood in this spot," he told BBC Radio Suffolk.

"I'm getting fed up of it. I've had 10 years trying to get this title back."

The Ipswich Witches riders watched on as their opponents celebrated the title

Ipswich have not been UK champions since 1998 but did secure their first trophy since then earlier in the season, beating Sheffield to win the Knockout Cup.

However, their target of completing a league and cup double was dashed in the last race of the season.

"I'm absolutely gutted with the result," said Hawkins.

"Sheffield were extremely good. We were very good on Tuesday but we made mistakes and lost points. Sheffield were just as good in the second leg but didn't make the mistakes.

"Everyone wrote us off and said we wouldn't even make the play-offs. So to get to the final and take it to the last race is a superb effort from everyone. But we weren't good enough."