Glasgow Tigers v Edinburgh Monarchs

Having clinched the Premier League title on Saturday at Stoke, would we suffer any after effects in our visit to Glasgow?

To a small extent perhaps we did, but we were still good enough to complete our tenth away win in the dozen away league matches so far.

Yet again we were off to a fine start with Ryan and Matthew racing off while Tigers? guest Jason Lyons ground to a halt. Matthew did lose control on the pits bend but regained his composure.

William Lawson took the three points in heat 2 in good style, while Ashley Morris had a tricky ride and just stayed off the fence a couple of times.

Heat 3 didn?t go entirely to plan as Kalle picked up a tapes exclusion and didn?t make much of a 15 metre ride. Never mind, Kevin Wolbert led home McGowan on his first ride on the track.

Next up for a heat win was Andrew Tully with a spectacular ride in heat 4, heading Lee Complin, with William Lawson passing Jake Anderson for the point.

The wide gates were advantageous and McGowan came from gate 4 to give Ryan Fisher a defeat. Matthew though pulled off an excellent outside overtake on Nick Morris.

Tully led heat 6 from Lyons who spun on the bar bend and fell in Nick Morris?s path. Jason was out but Nick made the gate in the restart, only to be passed in style by Andrew round the outside. We now led 22-14.

Lee Complin made one of his best starts to take a win over Wolbert in heat 7, and Kalle?s day hadn?t taken off yet ? he fell at the back on the last bend.

Complin was in heat 8 as well, as rider replacement, and won again, with Matthew and William passing Jake Anderson who had also been away well.

Heat 9 was definitely going wrong as McGowan and Nick Morris led, with Ashley Morris in third. Andrew Tully fell at the back and though he clearly tried to clear the track, the lights were on too quickly. Incredibly Andrew was fined for his slightly slow rise ? the race could easily have been allowed to run.

Tigers led again in the rerun, but remarkably Ashley slipped inside Nick off the pits bend for an excellent second place.

We were just four ahead now, but hit hard over the next two races. Kalle made a start in heat 10 and Kevin guarded him well, with Lyons pressing for a bit before fading.

Heat 11 was a great heat, Fisher leading narrowly with Complin (outside) and Wethers (inside) duelling for second just behind him. Matthew can ride the inside to great effect at Ashfield and he won the battle to give us a 39-27 lead.

That brought the Tigers? first TR for Nick Morris in heat 12. It was an easy win for Wolbert but Nick Morris scored 4, while Ashley Morris passed Anderson to keep the heat level.

That meant another TR in heat 13, this time Complin, who made gate 4 count for a good win. Fisher and Tully kept Lyons at the back as Jason?s day ended poorly.

McGowan won heat 14 but we would have shared it through Kalle and William, had William not slowed and eventually stopped.

We were now 7 up and needed to share the last heat ? McGowan and Complin against Fisher and Wolbert. McGowan gated but we had Complin at the rear down the back straight, only for Kevin to drift a little wide and give Ryan little option but to his the fence.

Ryan was excluded though, and Kevin off gate 1 didn?t seem to be well placed to get the 3 points we needed. He did it though thanks to a superb second bend drive to the front.

Our away points total is now an astounding 37 ? well done to the team.

Glasgow Tigers v Edinburgh Monarchs

While Edinburgh are in dreamland after clinching their third Premier League title in eight years, their opponents at Ashfield this afternoon (4.00pm) are in the midst of an injury nightmare with only three of their seven riders likely to be fit to race.

While Monarchs were pulling off yet another remarkable victory on the road last night at Stoke, Glasgow were battling for respectability at Newport with a six-man team, half of whom were guesting for the one night only.

The biggest loss for the Tigers is obviously Joe Screen who is capable of scoring maximums anywhere. But so is the excellent guest replacement, Jason Lyons who won the Cumberland Classic last night from track specialists Kauko Nieminen and Craig Cook.

Rider replacement is intended to cover for the absence of John Branney at No.2 which means four additional rides for the other riders for the second day in a row.

At No.3 is one of Glasgow's brightest spots in a crumbling season, 16-year-old Nick Morris from Canberra in Australia. Nick had been thrown in at the deep end and has shown he can more than hold his own at this level and is destined to go a lot further.

Nick had practice on a lot of UK tracks at the tail end of last year and started off in sensational style for Buxton in the National League. And of course he scored his first UK maximum 12+3 against Monarchs at Ashfield just over a month ago.

Holding the side together at No.4 is a much more experienced Australian, 29-year-old Travis McGowan from Mildura who just made it under the 12-point Premier League limit after a season in the colours of Swindon Robins in the Elite League.

Now we enter unknown territory at No's 5 and 6 where it had been planned for Marcin Rempala and Jade Mudgway of Berwick to guest for the day, but both were withdrawn from last night's challenge match with Redcar and it remains to be seen who fills these slots.

At No.7 for the Tigers is recent signing Jake Anderson. The 20-year-old from Victoria in Australia is now at his third Premier League club in his first UK season, having been released by Birmingham and Somerset to be replaced by Kyle Newman and Kyle Howarth.

Jake was actually injured in a first bend accident with Kalle Katajisto in May when Monarchs visited Birmingham. Jake was thrown through the safety fence and suffered a chipped elbow. He is perhaps a 'slow burner' who will come into his own given time.

So this is a story of two teams currently at the opposite ends of the speedway spectrum. However that is not to say that Glasgow won't be as fiercely competitive as ever in spite of their problems. Monarchs will still have to work very hard if they want to add any points to their impressive tally.

There should be a good sized travelling support and no matter what the circumstances, this is a local derby which means that neither side will be willing to concede an inch. It should be an entertaining afternoon of hard-fought speedway not to be missed.

Likely line-ups:

GLASGOW TIGERS: Jason Lyons (guest), rider replacement for John Branney, Nick Morris, Travis McGowan, Not known (guest), Not known (guest), Jake Anderson.

SCOTWASTE MONARCHS: Ryan Fisher, Matthew Wethers, Kevin Wolbert, Kalle Katajisto, Andrew Tully, Ashley Morris, William Lawson.