ONLY an eternal Panthers optimist could have come through these two hours of speedway in cheery mood.

Panthers team boss Trevor Swales demanded his side hit the ground running at Foxhall last night when chasing an away victory required to stand any chance of progressing to the Craven Shield final.

Well, they certainly hit the ground – and it was with a fair old thud as Ipswich dished out an early beating.

One wise-guy suggested Panthers were using this Shield meeting for testing. He wasn't far wrong because that is exactly what watching the debacle was.

The city side lost this meeting at the gate. While the Witches (who have admittedly had far more racing than Panthers so far this season) were rocketing away from the traps like champion greyhounds, Panthers were stuttering from the start like Onslow's clapped-out Cortina in Keeping Up Appearances.

Captain Hans Andersen weighed in with almost half of Panthers' paltry 31 points and yet even he admitted he did not perform at his best.

Andersen failed to win any of his opening three heats, including a tactical ride in heat 11 when he was thwarted by Jarek Hampel.

But if Andersen was slightly off colour on his old stomping ground, the rest of the city lot could hardly have been more pale.

Only former Ipswich man Danny King and middle-order man Morten Risager scored to anything like their averages with the clear problem coming further down the side where the remaining three riders managed just two points between them.

Andersen's regular source of back-up, Kenneth Bjerre, only contributed half-a-dozen points while second string Sam Simota again seemed lacking at the start and then devoid of power.

Big reserve hope Claus Vissing failed to translate his home form into this road test, but after only one previous experience of Foxhall he can be forgiven.

Finally Henrik Moller couldn't trouble the scorers and the manner of his defeats was particularly distressing as the young Dane regularly trailed home well detached at the back.

Panthers team manager Trevor Swales pulled no punches in his post- meeting assessment.

He said: "We coped with people not scoring in the home meeting against Ipswich more by luck than judgement because they also had riders struggling.

"Last night they had all seven of their boys going well and that is why the scoreline is so drastically different from Monday.

"We have backed ourselves into a corner and have to win at Lakeside tonight.


FACTFILE... all the details from last night's meeting

SCORES

Ipswich
Robert Miskowiak 7+2 (1, 3, 2*, 1*)
Piotr Swiderski 13+1 (3, 2*, 3, 3, 2)
Chris Louis 10+1 (3, 3, 2, 2*)
Steve Johnston 4+2 (1, 1, 1*, 1*)
Jarek Hampel 12+1 (3, 3, 3, 2, 1*)
Chris Schramm 5+1 (2*, 0, 1, 2)
Tobi Kroner 10+2 (3, 2*, 2*, 3)

Panthers
Hans Andersen 14 (2, 2, 4 t/r, 3, 3)
Sam Simota 1 (0, 0, 1, 0)
Kenneth Bjerre 6 (2, 2, 1, 1)
Morten Risager 4+1 (0, 1*, 0, 3)
Danny King 5 (1, 1, 3, 0, 0)
Henrik Moller 0 (0, 0, 0, 0)
Claus Vissing 1 (1, 0, ef, 0)

HEATS

1 – SWIDERSKI (59.4), Andersen, Miskowiak, Simota. 4-2, 4-2.
2 – KRONER (61.6), Schramm, Vissing, Moller. 5-1, 9-3.
3 – LOUIS (60.7), Bjerre, Johnston, Risager. 4-2, 13-5.
4 – HAMPEL (60.9), Kroner, King, Vissing. 5-1, 18-6.
5 – LOUIS (60.1), Andersen, Johnston, Simota. 4-2, 22-8.
6 - MISKOWIAK (60.0), Swiderski, King, Moller. 5-1, 27-9.
7 – HAMPEL (61.0), Bjerre, Risager, Schramm. 3-3, 30-12.
8 – SWIDERSKI (61.5), Kroner, Simota, Vissing (ef). 5-1, 35-13.
9 – KING (60.0), Louis, Johnston, Moller. 3-3, 38-16.
10 – SWIDERSKI (60.3), Miskowiak, Bjerre, Risager. 5-1, 43-17.
11 – HAMPEL (61.2), Andersen (t/r), Schramm, Simota. 4-4, 47-21.
12 – KRONER (61.7), Louis, Bjerre, Moller. 5-1, 52-22.
13 – ANDERSEN (60.9), Hampel, Miskowiak, King. 3-3, 55-25.
14 – RISAGER (62.0), Schramm, Johnston, Vissing. 3-3, 58-28.
15 – ANDERSEN (60.9), Swiderski, Hampel, King. 3-3, 61-31.
Key: * = paid points, t/r = tactical ride, ef = engine failure.