Sheffield Tigers
Richard Hall 14 (5)
Edinburgh Monarchs
Matthew Wethers 11+1 (6)
Premier League Knock Out Cup
56
34
Thursday 28th May 2009
Owlerton Stadium
Sheffield Tigers
56
1. Ricky Ashworth R 2* 3 1 6 1
2. Ritchie Hawkins r/r 0 0
3. Paul Cooper 1* 2* 1 0 4 2
4. Joel Parsons 1 2 3 3 1 0 10 0
5. Richard Hall 2 3 3 3 3 14 0
6. Josh Auty 3 1 2* 1 3 3 13 1
7. Chris Mills 1 1* 3 3 1 9 1
8. Scott Richardson 0 0
Edinburgh Monarchs
34
1. Ryan Fisher 3 1 2 2 0 1* 9 1
2. Aaron Summers 2* 3 0 1 0 6 1
3. Thomas H Jonasson r/r 0 0
4. Andrew Tully X 0 2 2 2 6 0
5. Matthew Wethers 3 1 2 1* 2 2 11 1
6. Michal Rajkowski 2 0 0 0 0 2 0
7. Sean Stoddart 0 0 0 0 0
Heat 1
Time: 61
1. Ricky Ashworth  
R
2. Ritchie Hawkins r/r  
4. Joel Parsons
1
1. Ryan Fisher  
3
2. Aaron Summers  
2
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
1
1
Away
5
5
Heat 2
Time: 61.6
6. Josh Auty  
3
7. Chris Mills  
1
6. Michal Rajkowski  
2
7. Sean Stoddart  
0
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
4
5
Away
2
7
Heat 3
Time: 62.5
3. Paul Cooper  
1
4. Joel Parsons  
2
3. Thomas H Jonasson r/r  
2. Aaron Summers
3
4. Andrew Tully  
X
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
3
8
Away
3
10
Heat 4
Time: 62.1
5. Richard Hall  
2
7. Chris Mills  
1
5. Matthew Wethers  
3
7. Sean Stoddart  
0
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
3
11
Away
3
13
Heat 5
Time: 62.4
3. Paul Cooper  
2
4. Joel Parsons  
3
1. Ryan Fisher  
1
2. Aaron Summers  
0
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
5
16
Away
1
14
Heat 6
Time: 62.3
1. Ricky Ashworth  
2
2. Ritchie Hawkins r/r  
7. Chris Mills
3
5. Matthew Wethers  
1
6. Michal Rajkowski  
0
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
5
21
Away
1
15
Heat 7
Time: 62
5. Richard Hall  
3
6. Josh Auty  
1
3. Thomas H Jonasson r/r  
2
4. Andrew Tully  
0
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
4
25
Away
2
17
Heat 8
Time: 62.9
2. Ritchie Hawkins r/r  
6. Josh Auty
2
7. Chris Mills  
3
2. Aaron Summers  
1
7. Sean Stoddart  
0
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
5
30
Away
1
18
Heat 9
Time: 62.4
3. Paul Cooper  
1
4. Joel Parsons  
3
5. Matthew Wethers  
2
6. Michal Rajkowski  
0
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
4
34
Away
2
20
Heat 10
Time: 61.8
1. Ricky Ashworth  
3
2. Ritchie Hawkins r/r  
3. Paul Cooper
0
3. Thomas H Jonasson r/r  
5. Matthew Wethers
1
4. Andrew Tully  
2
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
3
37
Away
3
23
Heat 11
Time: 62.6
5. Richard Hall  
3
6. Josh Auty  
1
1. Ryan Fisher  
2
2. Aaron Summers  
0
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
4
41
Away
2
25
Heat 12
Time: 62.7
3. Paul Cooper  
6. Josh Auty
3
7. Chris Mills  
1
3. Thomas H Jonasson r/r  
4. Andrew Tully
2
6. Michal Rajkowski  
0
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
4
45
Away
2
27
Heat 13
Time: 63
1. Ricky Ashworth  
1
5. Richard Hall  
3
1. Ryan Fisher  
0
5. Matthew Wethers  
2
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
4
49
Away
2
29
Heat 14
Time: 63.5
4. Joel Parsons  
1
6. Josh Auty  
3
4. Andrew Tully  
2
7. Sean Stoddart  
6. Michal Rajkowski
0
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
4
53
Away
2
31
Heat 15
Time: 63.5
4. Joel Parsons  
0
5. Richard Hall  
3
5. Matthew Wethers  
2
1. Ryan Fisher  
1
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
3
56
Away
3
34

As we led 13-11 after heat 4, it would have taken a supreme pessimist to think that we might struggle to qualify for the KO Cup quarter finals. A few heats later, that?s exactly what we were thinking.

In the end the 28 point lead was just enough, but it took an exceptional second place by Matthew Wethers in heat 13 to take us to the brink of qualifying.

We started with a 5-1, exactly as we had in the Premier Trophy visit. Ryan Fisher?s time was the fastest of the night with Aaron Summers holding off Parsons as Ashworth retired at the back.

Michal Rajkowski led heat 2 but was passed by Auty. It looked momentarily as though Sean Stoddart might pass Mills but he dropped back.

Parsons led heat 3 with Tully at the back, but Tully moved inside Cooper as they hit the third turn. He led into the turn, on the line, but Cooper dismally slid off which not unpredictably (though surely wrongly) earned Tully an exclusion. We didn?t lose out though because Aaron Summers led all the way in the rerun.

Matthew Wethers rode an excellent heat 4 to round Hall out of turn two and head him home. So we were 13-11 up and only needed another 19 points from 11 heats. No problem, surely?

Ah but it was. Heat 5 looked promising, our opening pair against Parsons and Cooper, but we trailed dismally to lose a 1-5. Heat 6 followed with an incredible series of events.

First Ashworth jumped the start and was pulled back. Next, he did it again, this time charging through the tapes and riding round a lap with the tape trailing from his machine. It was the most obvious tapes exclusion you could ever see ? but ?all four back? was announced. There was considerable laughter from the home fans.

It seems the ref thought the tapes had malfunctioned, though it?s hard to see how with Ashworth going through them ? they didn?t get a chance to malfunction. The decision was ridiculous but at the third attempt the home men just beat Matthew to the bend for another 5-1.

Hall won heat 7 but Fisher thankfully held off the pressing Auty to get us 2 points.

Auty and Mills then took 5 from heat 8, well ahead of Summers, and things were not looking great for us. We were 12 down, 17 up on aggregate but had spilled 14 points off the aggregate lead in 4 races.

We needed every point we could get. Matthew took a second in heat 9 but Cooper passed Rajkowski at the back, and for once the Raj was ineffective.

Cooper was given the rider replacement in heat 10 for Sheffield, when it could have been Auty, and we took advantage as Tully and Wethers kept him at the back.

Fisher split Hall and Auty in heat 11, though once again Auty put pressure on Fish who wasn?t looking quick in spite of his fast heat 1 win.

Auty replaced Cooper in heat 12, and Mills picked up a 2-minute punishment which sent him back 15 metres. Tully led but was passed by Auty, and even worse, Rajkowski was caught with embarrassing ease by Mills as we conceded another 4-2.

We weren?t far away now though, and Sheffield needed three 5-1s to beat us. That was not something which was inconceivable!

Heat 13 was a great race. Hall led all the way with Ashworth second, and Wethers persisting with an outside run constantly coming alongside Ashworth. He seemed to be through a couple of times, and finally on the last lap he did squeeze through a tiny gap to take a memorable second place.

We were now guaranteed a draw but Andrew made sure we qualified with a second between Auty and Parsons in heat 14.

Parsons was given a heat 15 ride, which he would not have been if the race result had mattered, and we managed to share the heat behind Hall to make the score look a little better than the performance had actually been.

It was remarkable that even though they pushed us so hard, there was very little buildup from Sheffield?s presentation team who should have been whipping up the home fans into a frenzy and trying to put pressure on us.

Having enjoyed a fairly successful start to their Premier League campaign, the Scotwaste Monarchs head south to face the Sheffield Tigers in Knockout Cup action.

Monarchs will be aiming to protect the 28 point lead we earned during a rather tedious first leg at Armadale and, while under normal circumstances it should probably be looked upon as a relatively achievable task, it?s possible we could be up against it...

For starters, Ryan Fisher has looked less than his usual self recently, following that horrific crash at Eastbourne. Matthew Wethers also took a tumble at home to Scunthorpe last Friday and Thomas H Jonasson suffered a nasty looking spill in Sweden on Tuesday. At the time of writing, there?s no news as to whether he emerged unscathed or not (here?s hoping not!). Let?s hope all 3 are fully fit because battling through the pain barrier is never a good idea at the best of times (don?t you just love speedway riders?!), and even less so when you?re attempting to fly round the fastest track in Britain!

The Tigers would appear to be hitting form at Owlerton just at the right time. Last week, Berwick were thrashed 62-33! The meeting was probably most notable for Ricky Ashworth setting a new track record, together with returns to form for both Joel Parsons and Paul Cooper (a repeat of that scoreline would take them through to face Workington in the next round!). However, they couldn?t quite continue their run when going down by 6 points at Birmingham on Sunday, where impressive youngster Joshua Auty was star man yet again.

Both teams have just completed their 12th fixture and will see new averages kicking in over the course of the next few days. The Monarchs? line up will change on Friday, while Sheffield's will enjoy a reshuffle as of Sunday (May 31). I?ll let Dennis Wallace explain all the ins and outs where we?re concerned (there aren?t many, I promise!) during his Edinburgh vs Glasgow preview later.

I was on the Sheffield website earlier. They do like their Ricky Ashworth photos! However, that aside, the 1-7 listed for the Monarchs is wrong... they?re a day ahead of themselves! I hope someone points out their error prior to the meeting because I can?t be bothered standing around on the terraces while officials argue in the pits... and let?s also hope this line up hasn?t been printed in the ?programme? as I?m only taking 1 pen with me!

Here?s hoping the weather stays fair and we can all sit back and enjoy another excellent night?s racing at one of the best tracks in the country (it?s probably still my favourite but, I have to admit, Scunthorpe?s catching up very quickly!).

As always, may the best team win...

Likely line-ups:

Tigers: Ricky Ashworth, Joel Parsons, Paul Cooper, Richard Hall, rider replacement for Ritchie Hawkins, Chris Mills, Joshua Auty.

Monarchs: Ryan Fisher, Aaron Summers, rider replacement for Thomas H Jonasson, Andrew Tully, Matthew Wethers, Michal Rajkowski, Sean Stoddart.

Late edit: Thomas H Jonasson has been ruled out of this meeting. The provisional Monarchs' team listed above has now been adjusted.