Speedway: Monarchs' chance to put Tigers in their tanks

Published on Thursday 4 August 2011 10:49

Edinburgh MONARCHS may have lost their magic touch on their away travels this season, but they remain pretty solid at home. This could hold the key to league hopes as they attempt to burst Glasgow Tigers' Premier League championship bubble at Armadale tonight in a derby tussle that looks set to attract the biggest crowd of the season to the Lothian Arena.

Monarchs' 58-32 drubbing at Ashfield on Sunday was a chastening experience with only three of Monarchs' top five riders - Andrew Tully, Matthew Wethers and Kevin Wolbert - worthy of pass marks and, as Monarchs acting team manager Alex Harkess pointed out: "You are not going to win matches with just three riders."

Glasgow will obviously fancy their chances this evening and Harkess hopes they bring a load of their supporters "to see them get beaten".

It was the limp manner in which Monarchs succumbed to defeat which was hard to stomach and co-promoter John Campbell spoke for many when he said: "It was a very disappointing performance, we were uncompetitive, and we must improve."

On the evidence of Tigers' overwhelming superiority, one would expect their team manager Stewart Dickson to be bullish about his side's prospects of becoming only the second team to win in the league at Armadale this season, but he is cautious, saying: "I'm not optimistic and I'm pretty sure Monarchs will raise their game and there could be some sort of backlash against us. Monarchs are tough nuts to crack round their own place and their top five are certainly capable of beating my top two, James Grieves and Joe Screen."

Dickson admitted he believed Sunday's fixture could have been a potential banana skin for the Tigers, who boast an unbeaten record at Ashfield this season.

"I said to my riders before the meeting that any sort of win would have been acceptable and I wasn't even bothered about taking all three points.

"But we got out of the blocks and I think Monarchs were shell-shocked at how well we started and they couldn't recover from that, we were very good and all our team deserve enormous credit.

"Edinburgh had two riders, Craig Cook and Kalle Katajisto, who I think were disappointing. Monarchs are also not the strongest at reserve and it proved too much for Wethers, Tully and Wolbert to carry.

"I was surprised at how easy we won, everybody was telling me beforehand that it would be a close meeting."

Former track record holder at Armadale, Theo Pijper, drops down to reserve for the Tigers swapping places with another ex-Monarch, Michal Rajkowski. "It doesn't weaken us", said Dickson."I think Theo will be better round Armadale because Michal hasn't set the place on fire on his two previous visits."

Pijper is paired with young Aussie sensation Nick Morris, who bagged 15 points and was instrumental in sinking Monarchs last weekend.

Dickson said: "If any of my top five are not on top of their game then Nick and Theo will get seven rides each, and I'd be lying if I didn't think we can capitalise at reserve."

The Tigers remain in the driving seat to relieve Monarchs of the championship crown and it would take a monumental collapse for them to let it slip.

Dickson said: "I'll be delighted if we can get a point tonight, that would get us back on track away from home.

"I'd like to win the match but it is not going to be easy because I think the Edinburgh management will have their guys fired up, and Edinburgh's supporters will also be expecting a big performance from their team. Things are getting a bit nervy for us as the title gets closer, but the most important thing for us is to keep winning at home. If we can get another couple of away wins and not lose at home, I don't think anybody will touch us

Dickson knows the Tigers have had opportunities in the past to beat Monarchs at Armadale and have blown it.

"I always go to Armadale feeling optimistic but on our last visit I had to give one of our guys a tactical ride after just five or six races.

"Edinburgh send most teams packing and their Tully/Wethers partnership concerns me. This, is where Edinburgh could win it."