Edinburgh Monarchs v Newport Wasps

It was quite a night at Armadale and a match to be proud of for the five riders who hauled us through to take all three points against Newport.

Who could have backed us to win with Katajisto away, high scoring reserve Kyle Howarth injured and Kevin Wolbert crashing out in heat 1? It eventually meant 13 rides to be shared between Lee Dicken and Byron Bekker, who with all due respect do not currently make a strong-looking reserve pairing.

A 12-point lead we held at heat 5 was quickly whittled down to 3 at heat 8, and at that point a win seemed unlikely and the third point a pipe dream.

Already feeling vulnerable prior to the match, we watched aghast as Kevin Wolbert lifted out of the second bend in the opening race and clatter the fence. The ambulance was out and though Kevin hobbled in to it, he was announced prior to his next ride as having withdrawn from the match.

Jason Doyle gated in the rerun but Matthew Wethers pulled off a lovely smooth inside pass to share the race.

The Newport reserves gated in heat 2 but Byron Bekker squeezed past Kurtz and then went inside Jones entering the pits corner. Lee Dicken also dived into the mix and emerged in second, riding home smoothly for a very welcome 5-1.

More passing in heat 3 with both Tully and Wethers taking Legault to give Monarchs an 8-point lead. At this stage the only points we had dropped were due to Wolbert's fall.

However that changed in heat 4 in which Sedgmen won fairly comfortably from Craig Cook, but Bekker took another important point ahead of Kurtz.

Doyle was out again in heat 5 and made a good start, but he locked slightly in mid-turn and both Tully and Wethers sharply took advantage to score another 5-1.

It was now 21-9, usually the kind of lead which guarantees victory, but when it was announced that Wolbert was out of heat 6 and we were tracking our reserves, we knew life was going to get tough.

Legault was on a TR riding with Jones, and they duly took an 8-1 even though Dicken pressed Jones quite hard.

Aspegren fell on the first corner of heat 7 and was excluded, and we were grateful for such points. Cook beat Legault and we were back to 7 up.

We chose not to give Cook the expected heat 8 rider replacement, holding it back for the next Wolbert heat, but again our reserves found the going tough and conceded a 1-5. The score now was 27-24.

Looking over the next 7 heats, we had one of our top three in all of the remaining heats, with two in heat 15. There was not much margin for error.

Surely Doyle had to start winning heats and it seemed that would be in heat 9 as he led by quite a margin after a messy first bend. However a couple of errors allowed Andrew to make up ground and with a superb inside move on the pits corner, he went ahead.

Five up now but in spite of a good effort by Cook (on his r/r ride) to pass Legault in the next, he lost out and we were down to a 33-30 advantage again.

Lee Dicken was down on the first corner of heat 11, and he seemed to have a foot injury as he hobbled off. Cook did superbly in the rerun though to head Doyle and Sedgmen and we held the three-point advantage.

Robin Aspegren came to life in heat 12 and led for a couple of laps before Tully came through for the expected win. Equally important was a great ride by Bekker to pass Jones, and that point gave us just a little more breathing space.

The pressure was on Cook again in heat 13 and what a fine job he made of it with a perfectly judged first corner to cut past Doyle down the back straight. There was a point for Lee Dicken when Doyle came off chasing Cook and at 7 up, we now looked good for the win.

That was secured when Wethers coolly won heat 14, leaving us 7 up going in to the last race.

The third match point became a virtual certainty when Legault lifted in the same fashion as Wolbert off the second bend, and hit the fence. He was excluded and injured his hand.

Tully gated to complete a superb full 15 in the rerun, while Wethers pressed hard for second on Sedgmen, but fell on the final bend.

It was a thrilling performance by the home men and a very well deserved three points.

Edinburgh Monarchs v Newport Wasps

If anyone thought this Friday's match against struggling Newport Wasps (7.30) was likely to be an anti-climax - think again!

After losing eight matches so far, five of them at home, the South Wales side have brought in two new riders to strengthen their side.

Out go Kim Nilsson and Alex Davies. In come Jason Doyle and Justin Sedgmen. The two Australians slot in at No's 1 and 2 which gives a much more solid look to the side, particularly at home. The introduction of Doyle in particular is like Hamilton Accies suddenly signing Cristiano Ronaldo.

The 25-year-old from New South Wales was initially without a team place at the start of this season but circumstances worked very much in his favour and he has been in greater demand than ever. He was slotted back into a re-declared Poole line-up and has earned an 8.50 point average with Rye House.

19-year-old Sedgmen from Mildura is one of two speedway racing brothers has been riding full time with Swindon this year after a season with Birmingham where he finished with a 6.56 Premier League average. Kevin Wolbert faces them at No.1 for Monarchs after his perfect 15 point display last Friday.

He will have to try to replicate that form because unfortunately Monarchs No.2 Kalle Katajisto is away on international calling again so Kevin will have a variety of partners, including the reserves. And thereby hangs a tale with Lee Dicken struggling for points and Kyle Howarth now ruled out with an injured shoulder.

Newport are also missing one rider, former No.1 Leigh Lanham who is riding in the British Semi-Final. This is not as serious an absence as Kalle's though because any of the Wasps riders can take Leigh's rides. So guess what? It's yet another tough Armadale night for Monarchs No.5, Craig Cook.

Robin Aspergen and Kyle Legault form a lively pairing at No's 3 and 4 for Wasps but the highly experienced Edinburgh pairing of Andrew Tully and Matthew Wethers should be expected to make home advantage count. Andrew is making better starts these days which makes him a much more formidable rider.

Nobody expects too much from Mark Jones at No.6 but his fellow Australian reserve partner Todd Kurtz will be out to impress. He is one of those lucky young riders who could end up getting experience in all three leagues in one season since he also rides for the Hornets and is Coventry's No.8.

So a weakened Monarchs side will face a strengthened Wasps team, which will make for a much closer result than would have been predicted a couple of weeks ago. Monarchs can't afford to lose this one if they harbour any hopes of finishing in the top four in the Premier League, so their top four will all have to ride their socks off!

Likely line-ups:

EDINBURGH SCOTWASTE MONARCHS: Kevin Wolbert, Kalle Katajisto R/R, Andrew Tully, Matthew Wethers (capt.), Craig Cook, Lee Dicken, NL guest for Kyle Howarth.

NEWPORT WASPS: Jason Doyle, Justin Sedgmen, Robin Aspegren, Kyle Legault, Leigh Lanham R/R, Mark Jones, Todd Kurtz.