Edinburgh Monarchs v Newport Wasps

It was hard to believe Edinburgh lost this match after building up a 12 point lead.

This was partly due to the excellence of Charlie Gjedde and the persistence of his team mates, but in reality owed more to the blundering of the home riders. Important fallers in each of the final four races sealed their fate, and left a feeling of anti-climax and frustration amongst the home support.

Unfortunately Craig Cook?s struggles continue. After winning his first race (and combining with Kyle Howarth who is also enduring a very bad spell), he started lifting off the starts and trailing round searching for form and confidence. It isn?t pleasant to watch, though allegations that he ?isn?t interested? are way off the mark.

Tom Perry showed a lot of spirit at reserve, but there was too much pressure thrown on to the top part of Monarchs? team.

Newport cut into their deficit with easy 5-1s in heats 7 and 8, and avoided a likely maximum reverse in heat 9 when Mark Jones fell ? Leigh Lanham was thus able to avoid a third successive personal 1-5 in the rerun.

Heading into the last four races, Monarchs were hanging on by 2 points. Howarth fell in heat 12 but Andrew Tully won the rerun from the back. Kevin Wolbert did well to get to the front in heat 13 from gate 1, but overdid things on the pits bend and flipped off.

The rerun now was almost certainly going to be a Wasps? 5-1 ? until Lanham stopped and baulked Cook. Monarchs still had a 1-point lead.

Kyle Howarth came into heat 14, and made his best start of the night ? but spun off on the first corner. Matthew Wethers won the rerun.

Wolbert and Tully had only dropped one point between them other than Wolbert?s fall, and they simply needed to share the final race. However it was Tully this time who was a first bend faller, and Gjedde got the better of a powerful early tussle with Wolbert to ensure an away win ? once Aspegren had very narrowly avoided falling off as well!

Edinburgh Monarchs v Newport Wasps

Monarchs sign off their home league programme with one of their biggest challenges of the season when the new KO Cup holders, Newport Wasps, visit Armadale for the second time this Friday (7.30).

The Welsh club has scored over 40 points in every match on their travels for nearly six months and they wiped the floor with runaway league leaders Glasgow last week, winning by 40 points at home to make the return leg a formality. So Edinburgh beware!

Kevin Wolbert's new-found dominance around the Scotwaste Arena will be severely tested by the villain of Berwick, and not the pantomime kind, Charlie Gjedde. The Bandits took a chance on the 31-year-old Danish international after a lengthy spell of injury, as Monarchs once did with Daniel Nermark, and it didn't work out.

After swopping the Scottish Borders for the Welsh Borders where he had hoped to be from the start of the season, Gjedde has put a couple of points on his average and is close to being the top rider in the Premier League, which is not surprising since he had just as high an Elite League average in his prime.

Kalle Katajisto draws the short straw this week with rider replacement operating for the injured Jason Doyle at No.2. This allows Newport a free choice of an extra outing for any of their other six riders, including their vastly experienced heat leaders, Gjedde and Lanham.

Armadale stalwart in times of trouble, Andrew Tully, lines up opposite 22-year-old Robin Aspergen who is in his second season of UK speedway. The Swede, who reserves some of his best scores for Edinburgh, was due to be replaced by Chris Slabon at one point but overcame injury to keep his place.

Skipper Matty Wethers is first to admit he hasn't been hitting the heights of late but will expect to pick up points against his opposite number, 20-year-old Anders Mellgren, who is another relative newcomer to UK speedway from Sweden. He is actually in his third spell with the Wasps having replaced Justin Sedgmen.

Craig Cook is another Monarch whose performances have been a bit patchy of late and he will have to unearth his best Armadale form against Newport's No.5, 34-year-old Leigh Lanham, a ten-year veteran of Arena Essex/Lakeside who is well known to viewers of Sky's televised Elite League matches.

Dudley Heathen's Tom Perry stands in again for Byron Bekker and the 18-year-old grasstracker faces the Wasps' skipper Mark Jones from New South Wales who is yet another in his second season of UK speedway. After being replaced by Justin Sedgmen, he was almost immediately recalled to replace Alex Davies.

Kyle Howarth brings up the rear against yet another exciting young rider from New South Wales, Todd Kurtz. The 18-year-old Wasp has enjoyed a lot of success in Newport's National League side and is still finding his feet in the Premier League, as indeed is fellow 18-year-old Kyle.

Monarchs need to be firing on all cylinders if they hope to repeat their 51-42 win over a different Newport line-up back in May or even their 49-42 win at Newport in April. They have to restrict the scoring of Gjedde and Lanham and hope they are not overwhelmed at reserve.

Monarchs may only be riding for pride, but a win would set them up nicely for the Scottish Cup to come. So if you like tense, top class, red-blooded Premier League speedway action, then make sure you are at the Scotwaste Arena to cheer on your favourites for the penultimate time this season.

Likely line-ups:

EDINBURGH SCOTWASTE MONARCHS: Kevin Wolbert, Kalle Katajisto, Andrew Tully, Matthew Wethers (capt.), Craig Cook, Tom Perry (guest), Kyle Howarth.

NEWPORT MIKE MANNING AUDIO WASPS: Charlie Gjedde, rider replacement for Jason Doyle, Robin Aspegren, Anders Mellgren, Leigh Lanham (capt.), Mark Jones, Todd Kurtz.