Newcastle Diamonds v Edinburgh Monarchs

A win at Newcastle would have taken us well clear in the northern section of the Premier Trophy, but too much went wrong and it didn?t happen.

With a full team and no machine problems, we would surely have won. However when things do go wrong you simply have to overcome them, and we failed to do that.

The absence of Thomas and Andrew obviously weakened us and we got just 4 points from Andrew?s rides. On top of that Ryan?s night was ruined when he seized his most suitable engine at the tapes in heat 1, and Aaron had a major blowup also in heat 11.

We are having far too much machine trouble and several of our away matches have been wrecked by defective machinery.

It was all too much for us and although we managed to go six up and hold that till heat 12, we lost it all over three disappointing closing heats.

Fisher rode off 15 metres (on Wethers? machine) in heat 1 and picked off Leverington, while Summers led Boxall home, so that was a good start.

Sean Stoddart appeared briefly at the front in heat 2 but Wortmann went past him to share the heat, with Branney unsuccessfully trying the outside line.

King and Sneddon took an easy 5-1 from heat 3 with Summers in as r/r and Hall way back looking very uncomfortable.

Heat 4 went our way though as Kenni Larsen was caught out by the track round the first corner and lost a lot of ground. Wethers and Stoddart took 5 points with Branney third.

Heat 5 looked like a big one and it started so well for us. Ryan Fisher was on his ?other? bike and he swept to the front down the back straight with Aaron Summers just behind. Instead of taking care though, Ryan was far too quick into the bottom bend and got caught on the outside, dropping to the back. A shared heat that should have been better.

However Rajkowski made his best start in heat 6 with Wethers pressing Boxall, who stopped allowing the captain through for another 5-1. That was a 6-point lead, reasonable at this point.

Larsen looked quick in heat 7 but Hall and Rajkowski managed to share it. As on the previous evening, we left Sean Stoddart in heat 8 but this time he didn?t come up with the goods, trailing behind as Aaron won the race. Probably an opportunity lost.

We did well to keep Derek Sneddon at the back in heat 9 though, King winning from Wethers and Rajkowski, and we were hanging on to that lead.

Richard Hall won heat 10 but the Raj was pointless this time, behind Boxall and Leverington.

Aaron made the start in heat 11 but came down on the first corner, and it turned out that he had completely destroyed his best engine. He should really have been excluded but the ref thought it had been first bend bunching. Aaron emerged on Wethers? bike but Larsen was too quick for him and Ryan. This time Ryan rode a sensible race.

Heat 12 was the sixth 3-3 in a row, King winning from Hall and Rajkowski.

We felt we were hanging on ? could we keep it going? The answer was no. Ryan shot into the tapes depressingly in heat 13, and though we could have put him off 15 metres with Matthew switched to gate 2, instead we put Sean Stoddart out. Boxall shot away from the tapes with Larsen in tow and our lead was down to 2, even though Matthew got within half a wheel of Larsen at the finish.

Heat 14 was now crucial because Larsen and King looked the quickest men in the meeting at this stage. Wethers and Rajkowski against Sneddon and Branney, and it was Derek who showed all his usual resolve to come from gate 4 to lead. Michal was in third briefly but Branney came past him rather easily and now Diamonds had levelled the scores.

We were not hopeful of the final heat and the best we could manage was a valiant second from Matthew, for a 2-point frustrating defeat.

Newcastle Diamonds v Edinburgh Monarchs

"After a hectic and successful home match against the Bandits on Friday and a visit to Workington on Saturday which yielded a hard won point we head off to Brough Park, Newcastle on Sunday for a crucial Premier Trophy match.

Newcastle has been a bit of a happy hunting ground for the Monarchs over the years. Last year was no exception when, on a 'peculiarly' prepared track, the side pulled off one of the most crucial away victories of the season on their way to winning the Championship with Matthew Wethers 21 point maximum one of the performances of the season.

Once again we badly need a win there to make progress this time in the Premier Trophy. Already Newcastle have surrendered at home to Sheffield by 39-50 and to Berwick by 39-51in this competition conceding all four league points to these teams Their one home success was at the expense of Glasgow when they won 48-45. Even then Glasgow took a league point as they lost by less than seven points. With three of our opponents having gained points at Newcastle we need to do likewise. With a possible four league points up for grabs as the away side we must not come back empty-handed.

The Newcastle team has not yet been announced but Steve Boxall, who missed last week's embarrassing home defeat at the hands of the Bandits, should be back from injury. He hasn't quite been the prolific scorer Newcastle had hoped for but one of these days he's going to click into top form. Let's hope it's not against us! The rest of the Diamonds side have been uninsurable. The local fans never seem to know what sort of performance they're going to witness but the riders will claim that they never know what sort of track they're going to be asked to ride. The track preparation seems to be the biggest bone of contention down Newcastle way these days but it will surely be better on Sunday night than that prepared for our league match there last year.

Derek Sneddon and Trent Leverington have both had great matches and indifferent ones while Jason King has yet to produce the form which made him such a force last year. Neither reserve, Casper Wortmann nor Craig Branney, could claim to be in a rich vein of form and the Diamonds have struggled with some poorish returns from the reserve berths. The one shining light for them has been the form of young Dane, Kenni Larsen, who looks to have tremendous potential and promises to join the list of top class Danish riders attracted to the Byker track over the years.

Our own team will again be missing Thomas H Jonasson and Andrew Tully and we will track Sheffield's Richard Hall as a guest at number 3 in place of Thomas and use Rider Replacement at number 4 in place of Andrew. The one big question mark must be how well Matthew Wethers has recovered from the nasty injury he suffered when he hit the fence on Friday night. Another 21 point maximum this time from Matthew could only happen if he has a tactical ride but we have to hope for another high score from him just as he has produced on past visits.

One area where we might just have a big advantage is at reserve. Michal Rajkowski has certainly been a revelation with the scores he has produced with is fast gating and Sean Stoddart is returning to the track where he spent the past few seasons. Surely they can more than hold their own against the home reserves and give the top four the support they'll need to bring home a victory.

As ever may the better team win (unless it's the Diamonds). The likely line ups are:

Newcastle: Steve Boxall, Trent Leverington, Derek Sneddon, Kenni Larsen, Jason King, Casper Wortmann and Craig Branney.

Edinburgh: Ryan Fisher, Aaron Summers, Richard Hall, Rider Replacement, Matthew Wethers, Michal Rajkowski, Sean Stoddart.