Edinburgh Monarchs v Glasgow Tigers

The first day of October sees the unique tension and excitement of a Scottish Cup weekend kick off at the Scotwaste Arena tonight (7.30) ? and for different reasons both sides of the great East/West divide will be even more determined to get their hands on the trophy than ever.

Glasgow have had another season of ill-luck and disappointment in spite of tracking some very talented riders and Edinburgh revealed not just a chink in their armour at Sheffield last night, but a great yawning chasm that Glasgow will hope to exploit.

Ryan Fisher squares up to ex-Swindon team mate Travis McGowan, the 29-year-old Australian who wears the No.1 race jacket tonight due to having edged 0.1 of a point ahead of Joe Screen in the latest set of Tigers averages. This match-up will have a big bearing in both legs.

Last week's Monarch of the match, Matthew Wethers lines up at No.2 against John Branney, the younger of the Cumbrian speedway racing brothers whose progress has been dogged by injury, this season being no exception. Matty could be a match winner.

Rider replacement operates at No.3 for Monarchs' Kevin Wolbert, while Glasgow track their young star of the future, Nick Morris from Canberra who at 16 years of age has slotted into the Premier League part way through the season and already has an average approaching 4.5.

No.4 sees the most intriguing match-up between 'Super' Kalle Katajisto and Glasgow's Josh Grajczonek, yet another highly rated Australian who has spent the last three years in the Tigers colours and is still only 20 years old. Who will gate the better?

As always seems to be the case, Andrew Tully seems to have the most difficult match-up at No.5, this week against Mark Lemon, a more than able substitute for the injured Joe Screen with an average well in excess of Andrew's. Will the Tigers fourth Australian edge this one?

Young Ashley Morris at last faces an opponent at No.6 who is also finding his way in his first Premier League season. Yes, it's another Aussie, Jake Anderson, who replaced Mitchell Davey and has already seen action with four clubs! This pair look evenly matched.

And so to the enigma that is the indisputably talented William Lawson at No.7. His opposite number is Glasgow's wholehearted captain Lee Dicken who has shown a liking for the Armadale circuit on recent visits and will happily pick off any stragglers.

So it remains to be seen if the Owlerton result was a one-off or whether it affects the confidence of the team who had dominated the season up to that point. One thing is certain, they cannot afford to throw away points as they once again did last night.

The home fans will expect nothing less than a continuation of the devastating home form of recent weeks, while Glasgow fans will have taken as much pleasure from Monarchs demise as those of Sheffield. It will have given their riders a confidence boost too.

With gating likely to play a very big part in the second leg, Monarchs will have to give themselves a decent lead to defend on Sunday. But as the rider match-ups show, this could be a close one and Glasgow have enjoyed a couple of big wins over their Scottish rivals this year.

Likely line-ups:

SCOTWASTE MONARCHS: Ryan Fisher, Matthew Wethers (capt.), rider replacement for Kevin Wolbert, Kalle Katajisto, Andrew Tully, Ashley Morris, William Lawson.

GLASGOW A-PLANT TIGERS: Travis McGowan, John Branney, Nick Morris, Josh Grajczonek, Mark Lemon (guest), Jake Anderson, Lee Dicken (capt.)