GREAT EFFORT FALLS JUST SHORT

NEWS Saturday 13th October 2012, 11:31pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

The Scotwaste Monarchs gave one of their best away displays of the season at Workington in a match they knew they had to win, taking a point but being pipped 46-44 in the final race.

There was controversy, and Craig Cook who won three races including the final heat was left fuming after he believed that Richard Lawson had crossed the inside white line with both wheels on the first corner of heat 13.

Video taken from the first corner supported Craig's contention, though realistically it would have been hard for the referee to spot from his box high in the stand, or to adjudicate on even if he had come down to see the tyremark (which Craig did request).

As Lawson went through, apparently illegally, on the inside, Adam Roynon also passed on the outside and we lost a 1-5.

However we reversed this in heat 14 through Matthew Wethers and Jozsef Tabaka, and that left us just 41-43 behind going on to the last race.

This time Cook made no mistake even though he was off the poorest gate. Unfortunately Theo Pijper, who had had an excellent meeting, missed the start from gate four and packed up before the end of the first lap.

This was an impressive Monarchs' display, with 9 points from Jozsef Tabaka (though he lost another vital third in heat 9 with a stoppage). Matthew Wethers perked up after last night and his pairing with Theo yielded 17 points.

This was our best Derwent Park display for some time, but just not quite enough. The away point gives us three, with another three on offer on Friday, which would leave us one adrift of Scunthorpe. However we owe it to the Scorpions to make sure we do collect these points - Workington need to win at Armadale to get ahead of Scunny in the table.

We've had no luck in league and cup at the end of the season, but we can be proud of our efforts tonight.