Beautiful South?

PREVIEW Saturday 14th May 2016, 1:07pm

by Graham Muncie

  Edinburgh Monarchs

It’s the longest trek in British Speedway tonight as the Border Roofing Monarchs head to the St Boniface Arena to tackle Plymouth in the second leg of the our KO Cup clash.

The best part of 500 miles separate the two tracks and back to back race nights are a challenge for man and machine alike.

The Border Roofing Monarchs will head south though buoyed by another strong home performance last night where after a slow start the Border Roofing Monarchs ran out 18 points winners and will look to defend this lead and progress through to the quarter finals.

All of our boys can take positives from their performances last night with the top 4 all on scintillating form in-fact all 4 were unbeaten but for running into impressive away number 1 guest Stevie Worrall. The top 4 were well backed up by Max Clegg. As is often the case Max’s gating let him down but he did tremendous to battle from the back in multiple races and he should head south more confident for his 7+2 performance. Dan had his first paid victory at Premier League level and Jye would have had the same but for a tumble. All in all the Monarchs can head for Devon in fine mood looking to defend the lead.

Plymouth will be a different proposition on their home shale though and are in decent form round the St Boniface Arena having fended off both Sheffield and Peterborough in the last two weeks. The Devils will look for more from several of their men not least Sam Simota. Simota turned in a possibly his worst ever Armadale performance last night but he is a powerful performer at home having racked up double figures in each of the last 2 weeks. Another who will look to rebound from a disappointing night is young Aussie hotshot Jack Holder. Holder was perhaps in the wrong place at the wrong time a couple of times last night but again he is another who can be nigh on unbeatable round his home confines and he and the rest of his Devil teammates will look to avenge their defeat last night.

The Blue and Gold should travel with no fear though as our recent record at the Devonshire circuit is second to none. Having recorded two victories and a narrow defeat in our three visits to the St Boniface Arena since they joined the Premier League in 2013.

There is a change to both teams going into the return leg as once again the Monarchs fall foul to a fixture clash with the Belle Vue Colts meaning Dan Greenwood comes in to deputise. Dan currently rides for Coventry’s National League team but has some Premier League level experience after a short spell with Rye House last season and will look to show Premier League promoters what he has to offer. For the Devils they continue to operate with a facility for ‘withholding his services’ Charlie Gjedde and for this match they turn to former number 1 Ben Barker to take his turn. Ben was a fan favourite in his time with Plymouth and the Devils faithful will look for him to replicate the form shown by the aforementioned Stevie Worrall at Armadale last night.

As it stands this is a tie that is still in the balance and the Monarchs will be hoping for a strong start to alleviate any nervousness as we look to move towards the final stages of the KO Cup once again. Tapes up are at 19.15 and we all hope our Blue and Gold heroes can complete the job and come back home with a next round berth in their hands.

Full Result Details