Monarchs Routed At Scunthorpe

REPORT Sunday 17th September 2023, 10:19pm

by Graham Muncie

  Edinburgh Monarchs

The Stellar Monarchs put in an abject display going down 59-31 at Scunthorpe on Sunday in the first of their playoff group matches.

Routinely beaten from the start and with only Josh Pickering able to make any consistent challenge it was a chastening afternoon with Pickering saying after.

"It was a quick run meeting as always at Scunthorpe and I didn't really know what the score was early on as I was changing things but it wasn't good enough, we got going a little in the last few heats but as I said it wasn't good enough."

As mentioned, the home men dominated from the off taking heat advantages in each of the first six heats and with the score already 27-9 at this point all thoughts had turned to damage limitation rather than a positive result.

The hosts were in no mood to relent though and having taken a point at Poole on Wednesday they now find themselves in pole position to progress.

It would take until heat 12 for the Monarchs to take the checkered flag as Pickering in as a tactical substitute made the start to head home Simon Lambert.

Heat 13 was another Pickering classic as left for dead at the start he wound it on for all four laps blasting round both Scorpions to take the win.

If heat 13 was good, then heat 15 was even better with Pickering at it again. Perhaps benefitting from a little bit of leniency from referee Phil Griffin (although the Scorpions had benefitted from similar earlier in the meeting) Pickering hit the front but home number one Ryan Douglas was not ready to accept defeat charging his way into the lead, the pair would then pass and re-pass on almost every corner until the Monarchs captain was able to make the lead stick on the final lap.

Unfortunately, though despite Pickering's brilliance back-up was sporadic at best, non-existent at worst as no other Monarch would take a heat win or top the five-point mark, the hosts dominance shown by the fact they ran only a pair of lasts all night to go with their 13 heat wins.

So, a bad day at the office for the Monarchs and pride will need to be restored when the sides meet again at Armadale on Friday night.

Scunthorpe 59: Douglas 12+1, Mountain 7+1, Lambert 7+2, Allen 12, Palm-Toft 12+1, Ablitt 3, Kemp 6+1

Stellar Monarchs 31: Sedgmen 4, Fredriksen 1, Thomson 2+1, Castagna 5, Pickering 15, Wood 0, Borke 4

Full Result Details