Academy Feel Brunt Of Lions Roar

There was a sense of frustration for the Stellar Monarchs academy on Saturday night as they went down 53-37 at Leicester in a match where points were often left on the track.

That is to take nothing whatsoever away from the home side who duly capitalised and were led brilliantly by the unbeaten Dan Thompson and hot prospect Ashton Boughton who raced to a paid 15 point haul.

Academy team boss Scott Wilson saying after

'I can't fault the effort of the guys tonight, they gave me everything, but we have to stop shooting ourselves in the foot. We threw away points on at least four occasions which would have made the scoreline look much more favourable.

'I must give a special mention to Ashton Boughen - what a talent he is! A number two going unbeaten in his four programmed rides is a matchwinner for any side in any league. Jacob (Hook) did well to lower his colours twice at the end.

'We dust ourselves down and look ahead to two meetings with Berwick next weekend. We must get back to winning ways.'

Wilson's men held their own in the early stages despite conceding a 1st heat 5-1 they hit back with one of their own to level and with five races gone the home lead was only two.

A trio of home maximums over the next five races all involving Boughen meant the meeting would slip away.

To their credit the Monarchs side battled manfully the rest of the way with with heat wins for all of their top men Max Clegg, Adam Roynon and Hook over the final third of the meeting but the difference on the night was that no backup could be found in these heat wins.

The stats proving this as the home men only recorded one more race win than the Monarchs but last places were telling this stat an unfavorable 12-3 against.

There is a chance for a quick bounce back for Wilson and his side though as they return to home shale next Friday, Berwick the opposition.

Leicester Lion Cubs 53 : Thompson 14+1, Boughen 13+2, Perry 9, Coles 7, Ward 5+3, James 5+3

Stellar Monarchs Academy 37 : Clegg 9, Lyden 0, Roynon 9, Hook 12+1, Wood 3, Simpson 4+2

Academy Look To Bounce Back

The Stellar Monarchs Academy are on the road again on Saturday as they head to current league champion Leicester looking to halt a recent run of defeats.

This will be no easy task though as anyone who was in attendance at Armadale last week will have seen firsthand the strength the Lion Cubs have in their squad as they look to make it back-to-back league titles.

The stars of the show for the Lion Cubs last week were their pair of 15-year-old phenoms Ashton Boughen and Max James both of whom will be in their usual positions for this one.

Elsewhere there are a couple of changes to the Lion Cubs team with Joe Thompson suffering a suspected broken collarbone on Friday evening Connor Coles steps in, Coles a member of that league winning team last year so no stranger to the Leicester track.

At reserve Kai Ward steps in for Vinnie Foord who is still out with a wrist injury. One further difference to the usual line-up seeing rider replacement in operation for Tom Spencer who broke his arm at Workington earlier in the month.

The Monarchs academy side also has a little bit of a reshuffle with Kyran Lyden's solid start to the season seeing an increase in average to 3.50 and a move to number 2 where he will partner recent signing Max Clegg.

Mickie Simpson's absence from the team was short and he is back in at number 7 where the hope is the Academy will have a real sting in their tail with Simpson another who was a member of the Leicester team last year and Dayle Wood who has now found his feet a very strong looking pair.

Jacob Hook returns after missing the home tie so the spearhead of Hook, Clegg and Adam Roynan will be looked at for the heat wins required to win any meeting.

Alex Spooner still misses out as he recovers from his collarbone injury with rider replacement allowing Hook, Lyden, Wood and Simpson to deputise.

So, an intriguing looking match looks likely as the Monarchs academy look to record their first victory since the start of May, tapes up at 7pm.