BELLE VUE captain Brady Kurtz admitted he was “gutted” with a shock home defeat to Ipswich.
The ATPI Aces suffered a 50-40 KO Cup Quarter-Final first leg loss to the impressive Witches at the National Speedway Stadium on Monday night.
They now face an uphill task to overturn the 10-point deficit in the deciding leg in Suffolk on Thursday.
It was a nightmare opening team fixture as the home side lost key man Norick Blodorn following a nasty crash in heat 8.
The KO Cup continues to be a jinx for the ATPI Aces and Kurtz said: “We are obviously gutted.
“I don’t know what it is about the KO Cup but we don’t seem to want it.
“Every single year we stand on the track before and say this year we’ve got to get through the first round. It doesn’t seem to be really.
“But it’s not over yet. The home leg was never to be. Thursday we’re going to have to do something really special. It’s possible.
“We can turn a 10 point loss around in three heats. We need to really dig in. I’m quite looking forward to it.
“It’s been a tough start but every year has been and we always pull through. So let’s hope we can do that again.”
Team boss Mark Lemon admits that it was just a tough night at the office.
He added: “It’s a two-legged tie so it’s not over yet. It’s a big ask to go down to Ipswich and turn that around. They are a quality team.
“It’s hard to take a loss at home on the back of having so much success at the club. It’s speedway, it’s sport, we’ve just got to bounce back.”
PREMIERSHIP KO CUP, QUARTER-FINAL, 1st leg:
BELLE VUE 40: Dan Bewley 13+1, Brady Kurtz 12, Tate Zischke 5+1, Jaimon Lidsey 5, Zach Cook 3, Jake Mulford 2, Norick Blodorn 0.
IPSWICH 50: Jason Doyle 9+1, Danny King 8+2, Dan Thompson 8+2, Tom Brennan 8, Emil Sayfutdinov 7+1, Adam Ellis 5+1, Jordan Jenkins 5+1.