THREE POINTS VITAL

NEWS Thursday 16th April 2015, 11:50pm

by Toby Lerone

  Edinburgh Monarchs

The Border Roofing Monarchs are hoping for a big win against Berwick on Friday night to secure all three match points and go top of the Border section of the League Cup qualifiers.

Three League Cup matches took place on Thursday evening in the other sections and the results gave us some clues as to likely qualifiers for the semi finals. In the Northern section Sheffield had a big win over Newcastle and they are well clear at the top of that section. However, Newcastle are still well placed with all their home matches still to come and still a winnable away match at Scunthorpe.

Scunthorpe's defeat at Redcar means that the Scorpions cannot win the group and it will take a miracle for Redcar to finish top. Sheffield were rained off at Newcastle last Sunday and that could be the decider when it is slotted back into the calendar.

Further south Ipswich defeated Plymouth and that means the Devils can't win the southern section. However, any of the other teams can with the odds probably stacked in favour of Somerset who have two home matches to go. Ipswich are at Somerset on Friday and if the Witches don't pick up anything there then the Rebels will be well on the way to topping the section.

Of course four teams are required for the semi finals and there will be only three group winners. The fourth semi finalist will come from the best of the group runners up. That will be decided by average match points scored. It is too early to establish who is likely to take that spot but it does make it important to secure every away point possible.

Discounted pre-match day tickets have been selling well suggesting that the crowd will be much bigger than last week's attendance and with our hospitality areas full to overflowing it looks like there will be a good atmosphere within the stadium.

Full Result Details