Edinburgh Monarchs v Newcastle Diamonds

PREVIEW Friday 11th April 2008, 12:00pm

by Dennis Wallace

  Edinburgh Monarchs

After the events of last year in Premier League matches against Newcastle, Edinburgh have a score to settle against the Diamonds.

They?ll be hoping for better luck this time; it could hardly be worse than last season?s!

First of all the team went to Newcastle on 5 August last year on Premier League business and, after an excellent display, went into the last heat leading by 41-43. George Stancl at number 1 for Edinburgh was on a maximum with four consecutive race wins going into the last race with only a shared heat needed for victory. The Monarchs even won the toss for gate positions in the final race but there then followed a lengthy track regrading for the one remaining race (!) which neutralised the advantage of the inside gates and Edinburgh lost a last heat 5-1 to go home empty handed.

Then, in the return match five days later at Armadale, another disaster befell the Monarchs when they were desperately seeking points to qualify for the end of season Young Shield play-offs. With Edinburgh leading by 16-14 George Stancl crashed out of the match in his second ride while leading on the opening lap of heat 6. With the team already using rider replacement for Derek Sneddon, who was also injured, they were down to five fit riders. Daniele Tessari was attempting a come back in that match but was clearly unfit and the combination of these factors left the side with too much to do. They still led by 38-33 with just three heats left but the Diamonds cashed in over these last three heats to win by three points. As a result all five league points went Newcastle?s way.

This time it?s the Diamonds who come with a weakened side. Strangely enough George Stancl features again. Having changed sides this season he will miss the match suffering from a broken collarbone. Newcastle are further weakened with Stancl still at number three in their averages which means that only Josef Franc of the other two heatleaders can take one of the rider replacement rides.

Newcastle radically changed their side this year. Gone are Jonas Raun, Ross Brady, Carl Wilkinson and Sam Dore who rode against us last year. They are replaced by Ben Powell (from Birmingham), Jason King (from Mildenhall), George Stancl (from Edinburgh) and Jaimie Robertson (who already was their asset). The Diamonds are confident that they have a side which can challenge for a top four place but the jury is still out on that claim. They suffered a surprisingly heavy defeat at Scunthorpe last Friday when they went down by 55-38. However on the plus side for them that night was the form of Jason King who from the number 4 position scored 15 points.

Over many years, going back to the Old Meadowbank era, Newcastle have regularly been a bogey side for the Monarchs. It is time to put that jinx to bed starting with a convincing win on Friday night. Newcastle?s chances will depend heavily on Christian Henry and Josef Franc, neither of whom can be underestimated. They have both been inconsistent so far this season and, unless they can both hit double figure scores, the Diamonds should struggle to hold the Monarchs.

Henry is no stranger to Armadale of course and neither is reserve Sean Stoddart. The latter is another rider the visitors will rely on to get amongst the points to keep in contention. Ben Powell at number 2 managed only one point from his three rides at Armadale last year while Jason King fared no better with one point from four rides. Jaimie Robertson at reserve continued the pattern with 1 point from five rides but he has fared better in previous seasons.

Thomas Jonasson makes his return to Armadale in this match and will be looking to up his scores as he becomes more familiar with the track and shows his undoubted talent. Otherwise the rest of the side should have too much punch for the Diamonds to threaten to take any points from their efforts this year.

The Monarchs? fans will certainly be hoping so for anything other than a comfortable win will be a huge disappointment in the side?s opening home Premier League match of the season.

Newcastle have rejigged their line-up to cope with George Stancl?s absence. They will use the rider replacement facility at number 2 and have Jason King filling the vital third heat leader role at number 5. May the better team win!

Likely line-ups:

Edinburgh: Ryan Fisher, Derek Sneddon, Thomas Jonasson, William Lawson, Matthew Wethers, Aaron Summers, Andrew Tully

Newcastle: Josef Franc, Rider Replacement (George Stancl), Christian Henry, Ben Powell, Jason King, Jaimie Robertson, Sean Stoddart.