Big Task Ahead

PREVIEW Sunday 27th May 2018, 11:06am

by Graham Muncie

  Edinburgh Monarchs

Well after a hard fought 2 point victory at Armadale on Friday night the Staggs Bar Monarchs head west on Sunday with it all to do in the 2nd leg of our Knockout Cup tie.

It was perhaps a disappointing end to the meeting for the Monarchs as the Tigers showed their resilience and dug deep to gain 4 points on the Monarchs over the final 3 heats and head home happy with their nights work.

This is the kind of effort that will be needed by the Monarchs at Ashfield and with 2 trips west already this season there should be no excuses of inexperience around the Saracen Park circuit. The Monarchs have done well to record at least 40 points in both visits so far but with no tactical substitute options available in the cup all 7 will need to chip in from the get go.

One major thing that will be required is a strong start as the Monarchs cannot afford to allow the Tigers to take the initiative and overturn the arrears immediately. With Ricky Wells good for double figures almost everywhere and Joel Andersson showing improved form and our strong reserve pairing leading us off hopefully that will be the case.

Of course the Tigers are no easy mark around their home track with only the shock heavy defeat to Workington as a blip so far. It was a day that everything that could go wrong did for a few of the Tigers that day with Chris Harris suffering no less than 4 engine failures and no one would expect that to be replicated.

Both teams are at full strength with Coty Garcia continuing his temporary spell as replacement for Matt at reserve with the hope that as a former Tiger the Argentinean could be a trump card.

So a huge effort is required for what would go down as one of the best results in recent seasons for the Monarchs should they be able to pull it off. Can they? There is only one place to be to find out so get yourself along to cheer on the boys.

See you there!

Full Result Details