Speedway: Monarchs still have chance to pick up more silverware

The loss of Andrew Tully for the remainder of the speedway season has placed Edinburgh Monarchs at a distinct disadvantage in their bid to add the Scottish and Knockout Cups to the championship crown they clinched in August.

Even before Tully broke his right forearm at Glasgow Tigers on Sunday, Monarchs had lost their air of invincibility at Sheffield four days earlier when they collapsed like a deck chair and surrendered a 28-point lead to the Yorkshire side to exit the Premier League play-offs in a timid fashion few could have envisaged.

In some ways, Monarchs need to prove themselves all over again, beginning at Armadale tonight when they must pull back a 16-point deficit incurred at Ashfield to stop Glasgow wresting the Scottish Cup from their grasp. Given that the Tigers have been rooted in the basement area of the league for much of the season, Monarchs' 51-35 first-leg reverse was a big disappointment and sparked fears that the Sheffield fall-out has manifested itself through the squad who badly need to rediscover their winning habit. Monarchs' co-promoter, John Campbell, insists his riders still have enough quality to ensure the acquisition of further silverware, but admitted: "If we perform as we have done in 95 per cent of our matches this year then winning the Scottish Cup will be no problem. However, if we perform as we did at Sheffield and, to a lesser extent at Glasgow, then it will be more difficult. But I see the Scottish Cup as a trophy we are going to win."

Campbell added: "Sunday's first leg at Glasgow saw us start with six riders' because Kevin Wolbert was absent and we were then down to five after Andrew crashed.

"It was an impossible task to cover for him and the match was unfortunate because of the fact we simply didn't have enough riders'

"Ryan Fisher's two falls didn't help either, if we could have put out any of our other riders other than the reserves to take extra rides, we could and should have won, but it wasn't to be the case."

Campbell has been in charge for Monarchs far too long to believe that one bad display at Sheffield has the potential to throw the Capital side completely off kilter.

He says: "Everybody was taken by surprise by the result but I'm not thinking for a second that the wheels have come off the whole show.

"I'm fairly confident we will do well tonight, we have sufficient quality in our team to enable us to pull back the 16 points.

"We will be hit by Andrew's absence in the forthcoming Knock-out Cup final, there is no denying that. But I don't rule out anything yet, everything is still possible."

Monarchs will face Birmingham or Newcastle - who are slight favourites to oust the Brummies from the semi- finals - in the final with the first or second leg taking place at Armadale on October 22 at the earliest. But Monarchs can only use rider replacement to cover for Tully with Kalle Katajisto and reserves Ashley Morris and William Lawson eligible for extra outings.

And Campbell mused if the showdown is against Newcastle then Lawson, a former Newcastle rider, will be a key performer.

"Certainly, William is the one man who can do well at Newcastle though we may not be in the fortunate position of winning there as we did in the league.

"But if we hold them close we have a chance over the two legs. And while William did not do well at Glasgow at the weekend he's done well at Newcastle this year and that's what we have to be looking at.

"Equally, if it's Birmingham we face, then we also have a good chancing of winning, we have won at Perry Barr on our last four visits."

Glasgow will use Mark Lemon as a guest for the injured Joe Screen.

"I'm not thinking for a second that the wheels have come off the whole show"

John Campbell