Edinburgh Monarchs v Sheffield Tigers

All of our riders rode pretty much to their potential as we had a misfortune-free night at last and beat Sheffield 53-40.

With Tigers missing Andre Compton and James Cockle, injured the night before, we were fairly firm favourites pre-match, but so many things have gone wrong recently that we were reserving judgement.

In fact we took control early on, and there might have been a point when we thought the bonus could come into play. Heats 11 and 12 put paid to any such thoughts, and realistically with such inexperienced reserves we are never going to thrash anyone.

Sheffield brought in Lee Complin to replace Andre, not as strong perhaps but his presence is a virtual guarantee of entertainment. He provided it and overall this match gave us some of the best racing of the season.

Once again Derek Sneddon started the match well and he led all the way in heat 1. Behind him George Stancl chased and harried Ricky Ashworth, moving into second place on the back straight of the final lap. He had to go quickly into the pits turn and left the line, allowing Ashworth to cut back and just pip him for second spot on the line.

Paul Cooper was likely to be a key man in ensuring Sheffield took the bonus. He won heat 2 with a bit to spare but once Ben Taylor and Kalle Katajisto settled down they easily shared the heat.

Laukkanen and Tully carved up the first corner of heat 3 to take a 5-1 from Complin, just finding his feet and locking up once or twice to lose ground.

A routine 4-2 in heat 4 put us in the comfortable position of 16-8 ahead, a rare feeling recently.

We didn?t let up there and we saw a fine win for Laukkanen in heat 6. Ashworth and Wilson made the start, but Laukkanen was soon past Wilson. He set out after Ashworth while Tully got onto Wilson?s tail. It was hard to know whether to watch back or front and both produced passes late in the race.

Laukkanen finally went for a round-the-outside move on the road bend, with Tully hitting the inside of the second bend to clinch an exciting 4-2.

We then had another example of teamwork from Stancl and Sneddon who had to work hard to hold off the challenging Parsons. George worked hard to slot in between Derek and Joel while Derek concentrated on moving wider to leave room for his partner. We got the 5-1.

Matthew Wethers won heat 7 and Sneddon took his third win in heat 8, both shared with our reserves bringing up the rear.

Kaj took his third win in heat 9, but this time the attention was on Andrew Tully?s powerful chase on Parsons. He threw everything into it and just fell short.

Lee Complin stopped Derek?s unbeaten run by passing him on the outside on the second bend of heat 10, though it was a comfortable win for Stancl.

We were now 18 points up, just 10 short on aggregate, so Sheffield used Ashworth as their TR in heat 11. It worked, Matthew making a poor start and having to catch and pass Wilson. A 2-7 ended any interest we might have had in the bonus.

We also lost the next heat as Complin from gate 4 rounded Laukkanen who was on gate 1. It was interesting though to watch Kaj work away and reduce Complin?s lead, finishing just a length short at the end.

Good work by Stancl and Wethers took the 5-1 in heat 13, and that made the match points secure.

Andrew Tully faced Parsons and Cooper in heat 14, and gained the three points with a superb first lap. He slipped under Parsons leaving the second bend and raced hard under Cooper going into the pits bend, moving him right out to the limit of where he could go without being brought down. Excellent riding from Andy.

The final heat was the best yet. It was a major surprise that we didn?t use Laukkanen, our most impressive rider, but that doesn?t mean to say that Stancl and Wethers didn?t deserve the ride.

They looked like making it count as they made the start, but they had Lee Complin chasing them.

Lee squeezed through a small gap outside Stancl on the road bend, and worked his way into contention with Matthew as they hit the lest corner.

He raced wide and cut back, and grabbed the verdict on the line. A superb exhibition by one of the best young talents around.

A very enjoyable night?s racing and a satisfactory result for both teams.

Edinburgh Monarchs v Sheffield Tigers

Still looking for a win in August, the visit of Sheffield to Armadale on Friday seems to offer the best prospect. But will it be that simple a task?

Not in my opinion. OK so we hammered Sheffield in the Premier Trophy by 60-33 and Sheffield arrive for Friday?s match with exactly the same team (albeit in a different riding order) ? even down to using Rider Replacement for James Birkinshaw again!

So what?s different about Sheffield this time? Well apart from anything else, the Tigers from Yorkshire will be coming to this match desperate for points to boost their chances of a top four play-off place. They will also be aware of our recent results and smell blood. So forget any lack-lustre attempt to win other than a bonus point; expect a determined effort to win the match instead.

Last time Andre Compton rattled up an immaculate 17 points against us losing out only to Ronnie Correy in heat 1. On the other hand the normally productive Ricky Ashworth had two falls and an engine failure in his four rides to score only 2 points. Can we really expect him to be as bad again? Ben Wilson also had a miserable meeting in the match last May scoring only one point for trailing in third in his last ride on the wrong end of a 5-1. Again he can hardly do worse this time. Joel Parsons has had some impressive meetings at Armadale although last time wasn?t one of them. His 7 point return was a bit lucky since three of them came from winning heat 4 after Matthew had fallen when leading.

It?s at reserve where we usually have a huge advantage over Sheffield. Last time we outscored them 15+4 to 6+1 but can we really expect to do anywhere like as well this time? We have Kalle Katajisto and a ?still to be announced? rider at reserve for us ? nothing like as strong as the Tessari/Tully pairing we tracked last time. It?s a worrying scenario that such poor previous performers to Armadale, Paul Cooper and James Cockle, could be the Sheffield match winners but that is a distinct possibility if our reserves fail to challenge them.

We really need the top five to hit 45 points between them just in case and that won?t be easy. George Stancl was well below par last week for whatever reason. We need him to be back to his best this week. We have Kai Laukkanen back this week so won?t have to suffer last week?s embarrassing weakness at number 3 but, as usual, we look to the ?boilerhouse? of the team to come up with the goods.

Derek, Matthew and Andrew have performed out of their skins this year and we look to them to do so again. We need some 20 points or so from this trio and that is surely not beyond them. However it leaves little room for error or breakdowns.

The danger to a home win then lies in the undoubted class of Andre Compton, the fast starts of Ricky Ashworth and the possibility that the Sheffield reserves could score well above their previous Armadale averages. Throw in Ben Wilson and Joel Parsons to the mix and we would be foolish to think we only had to turn up to win this match. I think it will be very close. It looks as though only Joel Parsons and the two reserves will be able to cover the R/R rides for James Birkinshaw and that could just about work in our favour.

May the better team win (as long as it?s us, of course!).