Sheffield Tigers v Edinburgh Monarchs

Monarchs are certainly not out of their first round KO Cup tie after scoring 36 points at Sheffield.

It might have been a few more ? Ronnie Correy lost a chain when second in heat 13, and Henrik Moller was excluded from heat 14 when he was adjudged to have brought Paul Cooper down.

But we would probably have settled for a 21-point gap at the outset. We were assisted by what turned out to be an unwise decision by Jamie Birkinshaw to ride following an injury at Berwick the previous Saturday.

He was clearly not fit during his first ride, trailing well back, and the referee Watters had to rule on whether two further rides should be left blank on the grounds that the injury had not been sustained in the match.

The latter point was confirmed when it was announced as an old injury by the local centre green man.

Sheffield have a very strong opening pair and they started with a 5-1, though Ronnie got round at a similar speed after a bad start.

Daniele rode a great heat 2, side by side with Cooper for the first lap before glancing casually over and pulling away from lap two onwards.

Heat 3 was the first appearance of Birko so we shared that one too. We were grateful for every point we could get. Henrik Moller led early on but Ashworth powered through on the inside.

Cockle was a surprise winner of heat 4, leading all the way. Matthew slid off uncomfortably on lap two, but Andrew kept chasing and was rewarded when he slipped past Parsons into second.

Cooper came into heat 5 and we lost a disappointing 5-1. The next one might have gone the same way but Matthew, using an unexpectedly successful inside line, slipped under Wilson.

Henrik made another start in heat 7 and this time he led all the way. William put pressure on the wide-riding Parsons but we had to settle for a 4-2. Back to 10 behind.

Wilson and Cooper were too quick for Lawson in heat 8, and William didn?t seem to have the speed required to make an impression.

Only one home rider in heat 9 due to the Birko thing, so we shared that behind Ashworth, then the Compton/Wilson pairing raced away with heat 10. 18 points now.

We then used our TR, eelaying revealing the move till James Cockle was on the track, lest Cooper be used. Really Sheffield should have had Cooper in anyway, but it didn?t seem to occur to them.

Ronnie made a start this time and Matthew soon slipped through into second. Parsons put pressure on for a bit, before clipping the fence and lifting, and even though he came back we took the 7-1. Ronnie was well clear and decided not to risk any slowing down.

The deficit was cut to 12 by that key heat, but once again Cooper was involved in a 5-1 with Ashworth in heat 12.

We were set to share heat 13 until the last bend, when Ronnie shed a chain. That lifted the gap to 18.

There was a clear chance to use a TS in heat 14 as there was no Birkinshaw ? a second place would gather 4 points. It was Cooper v Moller at the tapes with Tessari off 15.

Cooper led but Moller clearly had a speed advantage. He went for an inside passing move on the pits bend, but Cooper tried to close the door and came down.

It was one of those things ? the inside man usually gets the blame though you could make a case for Cooper being guilty. But Henrik was out.

Daniele made a bold effort in the rerun with some spectacular fence-scraping which had us worried we might finish with 0 ? but we took a 4-3.

The last heat was an expected 1-5 as Compton and Ashworth completed their maximums. Ronnie stopped again late in the heat.

So we have 21 points to make up.