Edinburgh Monarchs v Sheffield Tigers

Maybe we thought it would be a relatively easy night against Sheffield, but Josh Auty and others made sure that was not the case and gave us plenty of entertainment before we clinched the three match points.

Sheffield might turn out to be more of an attraction and less of a home specialist team this year, though obviously Auty will not be at reserve for long.

Monarchs hit trouble right from the off as Aaron didn?t turn hard enough on the first corner and brought down himself and Ricky Ashworth. Out went last week?s maximum man with Ashworth resuming after a delay.

The rerun was a procession with Ryan well ahead.

Josh Auty got a flier in heat 2 which signalled the start of some ragged starts for much of the evening. He won easily and all eyes were on Sean Stoddart who was making up ground on Chris Mills. He finally caught and passed him on the last bend, with Mills falling.

Heat 3 was a very easy 5-1 for Jonasson and Tully, miles ahead of the visiting pair who were to concede three maximum advantages.

Matthew won heat 4 from Hall but this time Sean Stoddart finished behind Mills.

Ricky Ashworth was first away in heat 5, a good race with first Thomas trying an outside run which didn?t succeed, then Andrew cutting past on the inside for a good win.

Aaron led heat 6 with Ryan initially at the back. He dived through on the pits corner, passed Auty but allegedly ran into Hall who came down. Ryan was out, much to his displeasure.

Aaron went ahead again in the restart but Hall rode an excellent wide line to pass him. We were only four up now but the Tigers? middle pair wasn?t firing and Michal / Matthew took a fairly comfortable 5-1 over them, the captain nursing his partner whose time was quite slow.

Auty pulled out an excellent ride in heat 8 to beat Summers, while Stoddart was again chasing Mills after a dreadful start. He made up a lot of ground and was trying an outside pass on the last lap when he fell.

Auty was even better in heat 9, an excellent race. Thomas was the early leader pressed on the outside by Richard Hall, with Andrew Tully a fair bit back. On the pits bend of lap three they were all tightening up, and it was Auty who burst to the front just as Tully passed Hall.

Now we were six up, and again that Hawkins/Parsons pair proved the weak link for Sheffield as we took five via Fisher and Summers.

That made the gap ten and allowed a first TR for Ashworth in heat 11. He led for a bit but in his usual cool style, Wethers came through to win the heat and make it a 4-4 with Rajkowski third.

It looked as though our Pole was going to take an excellent win in heat 12, as he was well clear of Auty at one point, but he does tend to fade as heats go on. That was what happened here and Auty passed him on the home straight with rather too much force.

Ashworth had a couple of fliers pulled back in heat 13, after which he retired on the first corner when they did get going. Fisher and Wethers blocked out Hall who fell at the end of lap two and dislodged the fence. Hall then remounted and as soon as he had crossed the line at the end of his second lap, the referee stopped the heat and awarded the race.

This was in order to comply with the ?two laps for all riders? rule, but Monarchs were annoyed that Hall was awarded a point as he had caused the stoppage. On the other hand, had he been excluded for falling and dislodging the fence, he would not have completed two laps and so the race would have to have been rerun with the two home men!

Of course this is all the fault of the rule book which allows referees so little discretion. Justice would have seen a 5-0 awarded to Edinburgh.

We were fourteen up now but just as with Edinburgh at Glasgow last Sunday, the combined wisdom of Boocock, Machin and Hoggart was not enough to remember that this was a position for using the second TR.

According to the letter of the (badly written) rule, they could not have used Auty who was a reserve replacement (there?s no reasonable reason why this should be so, but it is). But they could have used Mills, who won another hotly contested heat in which Andrew Tully grabbed second right on the line from Auty.

Josh might have been expected to be tired now, but apparently not because he rode a great race in the final heat, pushing Fisher all the way to the line. The home man won narrowly.

HERMISTON MONARCH OF THE MATCH: Matthew Wethers

IRELAND ALLOYS TIGER OF THE MATCH: Josh Auty