Edinburgh Monarchs: Stoke brushed aside for second time in a week by champions

Monarchs currently sit on 72 points at the summit of the table with four points still available from their final league fixture of the season at Somerset Rebels next week.

In many ways Stoke faced something of a mission impossible and with Monarchs in such high spirits it would have taken a collapse of cataclysmic proportions for the visitors to have prevailed. At times it looked as if Monarchs had accepted an exhibition booking as they reeled in the points with a carefree zeal befitting a side who have swept all before them this season. Ryan Fisher, skipper Matthew Wethers, and Andrew Tully were all unbeaten by the opposition, and Monarchs had five riders in total who all hit the double-figure mark.

Wethers saved his best ride until the final heat when he tracked Potters teenager Ricky Wells all the way before pouncing with to follow partner Fisher home for a 5-1 advantage. "I could have done with making a better start in that last race, but other than that, it was a good team performance and everybody tried their best. I was pretty happy with how I rode overall and we got the job done quite convincingly in the end,"

Monarchs recruited unattached Greg Blair as Wolbert's replacement but the youngster, who has just returned to speedway, failed to score and also blew his engine to bits in his third outing and didn't come out for his fourth ride.

"I didn't do badly considering it was just my fourth meeting back," said Blair, "but blowing my motor wasn't a good thing."

Stoke were well served by Wells who top scored with 11 points from six starts but the Potters captain admitted that Monarchs were simply too good. "We certainly didn't come to Armadale thinking we had an impossible task on our hands but Edinburgh are top of the league because they have a good team," he said. "They are so dialled in to their own track, it makes trying to beat them very hard, as we found out!

The Potters, who trailed 24-11 after six races, handed Lee Smart a tactical ride in the following race in a bid to reduce their deficit. Unfortunately he took a nasty tumble on the second turn and was disqualified from the rerun gifting Monarchs a 5-1 courtesy of Tully and reserve William Lawson who was lively and raked in ten points. "It was a pretty bad looking accident Lee had but thankfully he was okay afterwards," Wells explained. "When I arrived and heard Monarchs would be without Kevin I thought we'd get a lot closer to them. But some of our team hadn't seen Armadale before and it proved difficult for them."

Stoke badly needed a slice of luck to give their spirits a lift and they got it in heat eight when their second tactical ride candidate Taylor Poole scooped four points for finishing behind Wethers. It was a race which had only two finishers after Poole's teammate Lubos Tomicek retired and Monarchs second reserve Ashley Morris slithered off on the back straight. Morris, who scored one point in his second race, said: "I felt pretty sore afterwards and struggled to sit comfortably on my bike in my last two races."

Monarchs: Fisher 14, Wethers 11, Tully 11, Katajisto 11, Lawson 10, Morris 1, Blair 0.

Stoke: Wells 11, Poole 9, Smart 5, Thelaus 2, Tomicek 2, Wilson 2, Facher 1.

"I could have done with a better start in that last race, but it was a good team performance" matthew wethers