Comets suffered a 26-point defeat at the hands of the high-flying Witches on Thursday, but Whitehead, who was stand-in manager for Comets forgettable trip, believes Workington did not do themselves justice, but urged his riders to move on quickly.

The west Cumbrians host Newcastle at Derwent Park tomorrow (1pm start) before hotfooting it over to the Diamonds Brough Park home for the second leg at 7.30pm.

Whitehead said: You cant take it away from the track, youve got to leave it there and get on with it.

We are a better team than that. We did better after the interval but the match was lost by then.

The guys struggled but not for lack of effort so they were all disappointed and its a long way to come and leave with nothing.

I think the best rider on the night for us was probably James Sarjeant.

He did his usual thing with the tapes which is so frustrating because he can ride and, when I told him he had to miss every gate after that and race, he did well.

Comets were not helped by Thomas Jorgensens battle with a knee injury picked up while riding for his new Premiership side Kings Lynn on Wednesday night.

The Danish rider eventually succumbed to his knock and withdrew from the meeting before his final heat but hopes to be available for tomorrows cup action.

And rare mechanical problems added to their woes as Craig Cook missed the two minutes ahead of his tactical ride due to a rare carburetor issue.

It was just one of those nights, Whitehead added.

We had no luck and the referee seemed to make some strange decisions, especially when he excluded Mason Campton instead of Kyle Newman.

Kyle hasnt been riding very well but chose the meeting against us to find form again.

It was disappointing but Ipswich are a good side.

Read the rest here:

Comets' co-promoter: We must put the Ipswich defeat behind us - Times & Star