Diamonds Looking To Shine

NEWS Wednesday 12th July 2017, 8:00pm

by Graham Muncie

  Edinburgh Monarchs

The Parsons Peebles Monarchs welcome the Newcastle Diamonds to Armadale this week in the SGB Championship

DISAPPOINTED DIAMONDS

Newcastle will be a little disappointed with how their season has gone so far. The North East men were tipped as playoff contenders at the start of the season but currently sit ten points adrift of the 4th place required to achieve this and with the season now more than halfway gone they will be looking for an uptick in form starting this week.

ARMADALE PEDIGREE

That is not to say that the Diamonds will not provide a stern test as they bring a host of Armadale experience and pedigree north with them.

The team is built around a strong top 5 and features world cup star Robert Lambert at the spearhead alongside noted Armadale performers such as Ludvig Lindgren and Lewis Rose.

SAME FACE DIFFERENT NAME

The visitors are forced into one change this week although it may not be noticed in the team picture as former Monarch and another team GB world cup car Stevie Worrall is forced to miss out to due to Premiership commitments. Stepping into his place is Glasgow heat leader and Stevie’s twin brother Ritchie. Richie has been in flying form this season and this has recently been rewarded with a short term contract from Premiership outfit the Poole Pirates. Richie is a noted Armadale specialist and his inclusion will only add extra spice to the occasion.

MONARCHS SHUFFLE THE DECK

The home men also make a small change to their line-up this week as Ricky Wells and Erik Riss swap places.

Riss has been in flying form of late and coped admirably with riding at the number 5 slot in the absence of Wells last week so it has been decided to keep the young German in this position against a tricky Newcastle outfit.

Monarchs Co-promoter Alex Harkess commenting “We need to win against Newcastle. Nothing Changes and we are not really producing what we should be doing anywhere. At home consistency is what we want, no last places and I’m sure we will be fine but Newcastle have a solid outfit with plenty of experience so we know it will be tough.

MEETING SPONSOR

We are once again grateful to Liam Rudden for his sponsoring this week’s match. Rudden is a renowned writer, director and actor and has no less than 5 shows on at the upcoming Edinburgh Fringe Festival. One of these is titled Thief and Liam alongside one of the stars of the play Lee Fanning and others will be enjoying the evening from the hospitality area.

Teams for the SGB Championship match at Armadale on Friday 14th July (start time 7:30pm, gates open 6:30pm), are:

PARSONS PEEBLES MONARCHS: Sam Masters (capt), Theo Pijper, Ricky Wells, Max Clegg, Erik Riss, Josh Pickering, Mitchell Davey.

NEWCASTLE SAPPHIRE ENGINEERING DIAMONDS: Robert Lambert, Ashley Morris, Lewis Rose, Ludvig Lindgren (Capt), Richie Worrall, Ben Hopwood, Alfie Bowtell

DIAMONDS WILL BE TOUGH TO BEAT: As mentioned earlier if there is one track the Diamonds generally travel to with confidence it is Armadale. Robert Lambert is one of the top men in the division and secures double figure points almost everywhere he goes. Ludvig Lindgren raced to not one but two maximums while guesting for the Monarchs last season and Richie Worrall already has a 14 point return to his name at the West Lothian Arena so far this year. Add to that the two most improved members of their team have been Lewis Rose and ex-Monarch Ashley Morris and a tasty encounter lies ahead.

One place the Monarchs may look to push home an advantage is at reserve where it has been a revolving door so far for the Diamonds this season due to form and injury abut recent signings Ben Hopwood and Alfie Bowtell have both had their moments since joining the team.

LAST MEETING: The Parsons Peebles ran out comfortable winners 53-39 against the Berwick Bandits. Stand in captain Erik Riss was top man for the Monarchs with 14 while Kevin Doolan headed the Bandits scorecard with 10 points.

NEXT MEETING: No match on the 21st of July due to the Championship pairs event at Somerset so the next match at Armadale is the intermediate challenge match against the Buxton Hitmen

Full Result Details