Monarchs Cup Quest Starts At Poole

PREVIEW Wednesday 24th April 2024, 8:20am

by Graham Muncie

  Edinburgh Monarchs

Stellar Monarchs start their KO Cup campaign on Wednesday night with the long trip down to Dorset to take on Poole in the first leg of what is sure to be a tough tie.

Such are the standards set by our opponents that many classed 2023 as a disappointing year that despite winning the BSN Shield and being beaten finalists in both this competition and the Championship playoffs also.

As with any successful team changes were needed but their is a familiarity at the top end with Richard Lawson and the Cook brothers Ben and Zach all having returned.

Big acquisition of the winter was 2023 league winner Tom Brennan and early signs are the young Englishman is ready for the next step.

Tobias Thomsen was not a name that was on many people's radar as slotting into a second string position after a nondescript spell at Birmingham a few years back, now more experienced and better prepared Thomsen is another who has started well.

The reserve slots are filled by two young Brits both looking to make their mark. Sam Hagon is one to watch for many while Monarchs Academy man Max Perry is tasked with beating his opposite number.

The Pirates have had a stop start beginning to their season and similar to the Monarchs this is only their second fixture of the season (if we don't count the Monarchs rained off meeting at Glasgow) but that one match was an impressive 61-29 rout of Oxford.

All this means the Monarchs will need to be at their best to come away with a decent result in this one but the early signs are promising.

A four point defeat at Berwick brings no shame despite a slight nagging feeling after getting to the last all square and while the team was led tremendously by Josh Pickering the fact that each of the seven all had at least one win or paid win to their name shows there is points scoring potential throughout.

Wimborne Road is also a venue that holds no secrets for the Monarchs with multiple visits each of the last couple of seasons.

While these have more often than not ended up with the Monarchs coming home empty handed positives can be taken with each of the Monarchs top four all having made it to paid double figures at least once last season.

That is the level of performance that will be needed from all the boys in Blue and Gold if progression is to be made to the semi finals come the end of the second leg next week.

The action starts in this one at 7.30pm with live stream available at https://livestream.poole-speedway.com live updates will also be available on the Monarchs official website.

Full Result Details