Newport Wasps v Edinburgh Monarchs

PREVIEW Sunday 21st May 2006, 12:00pm

by Dennis Wallace

  Edinburgh Monarchs

This is a match which the team must win and win well. While history will surely not repeat itself by consigning the team to another 32 point defeat in the second leg, it is important to take a big, defendable lead. The home leg should not prove too much of a problem if all the riders are on-song but Newport are fast turning into bit of a bogey side.

Apart from this year's heavy Premier League defeat a few weeks ago we only have to look back to last year to our match at Newport when the Wasps, with the use of the TR rule pulled back a 12 point lead we enjoyed mid-match to win by a single point. Even in our Championship winning season we not only lost at Newport but couldn't even manage the bonus point. So there should be no complacency about this match.

Since we rode down in Wales, Newport have suffered two bad injuries - to their top average men. Craig Watson looks likely to be out of the side for some time with a bad arm break sustained at Stoke while Neil Collins has a broken collarbone and three broken ribs in a crash at Rye House. As a result they will have Andre Compton as a guest for Craig Watson at number 5 and will use Rider Replacement for Neil Collins at number 1.

Andre Compton's form round Armadale has often been patchy, mixing some brilliant rides with others less impressive. Until the match starts we will not know which Andre Compton has turned up! In any case he is likely to have six rides but it would be extremely disappointing if he were allowed to win too many of them.

The other big danger man is Carl Wilkinson whose form this season is even better than last when, after signing for Berwick, he went from strength to strength. Already this season he has outscored Craig Watson in a number of matches and has turned into a very effective and consistent heat leader for the Wasps.

Chris Schramm and Tony Atkin have had their moments at Armadale but will be targets to beat for all the team including both our reserves. If they can be completely subdued Newport will struggle because they are particularly vulnerable at reserve. Joel Parsons has only shown glimpses of his early season form with Hull last year prior to his bad injury and both Billy Legg and Sam Hurst, one of whom will fill the other reserve slot, have struggled to come to terms with Premier League racing.

What should we be looking for? The target should be at least to match the 22 point win we had over Stoke last week but hopefully we can do better than that. No matter how big a lead we do manage there will be no complacency in the side as the memories of that thrashing a few weeks ago will still be relatively fresh in the minds of the riders. Perhaps it will be Newport who are lulled into a false sense of security instead!