DIAMONDS AT ARMADALE

NEWS Tuesday 7th April 2009, 7:49pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

The Scotwaste Monarchs face Newcastle Diamonds in the Premier Trophy at Armadale this Friday, conscious as always that matches between these sides are littered with away victories.

On paper Diamonds seem to have a strong, balanced team and yet they have already suffered two shock home defeats ? Monarchs will be wary of the backlash. The visiting team of course includes 2008 Monarchs' captain Derek Sneddon. Monarchs will be at full strength and looking to build on an excellent away draw gained at Berwick last Saturday as they challenge for a Premier Trophy semi-final place.

TEAMS FOR THE PREMIER TROPHY MATCH AT ARMADALE ON FRIDAY 10th APRIL (start time 7.30, doors open 6.30) are:

SCOTWASTE MONARCHS: Ryan Fisher, Aaron Summers, Thomas H Jonasson, Andrew Tully, Matthew Wethers (captain), Michal Rajkowski, Sean Stoddart.

One of the highlights of this week's Armadale action should be the first appearance at the track of 20 year old Danish rider Kenni Larsen.

In the dark days (for them) of 2008, Diamonds' fans were thrilled with the late season signing of Kenni who scored paid 40 points in 4 appearances.

He would certainly have won any vote amongst Diamonds' fans as to who they most wanted in their team for 2009.

He appears to be concentrating on his UK career with not too many overseas commitments, and of course he will be hot on the trail of Under-21 honours during the summer, as will Monarchs' own Thomas H Jonasson.

Newcastle are well known for their Danish connection ? Ole Olsen, Nicki Pedersen, Bjarne Pedersen and Kenneth Bjerre all started in the UK with them ? and Kenni Arendt-Larsen could be the next in the line.

TROPHY PROGRESS: Under the new scoring system, taking away points will be even more important than usual, so Monarchs' draw at Berwick was a good result. It was the best away result in the section at that point, though Sheffield's win at Newcastle topped it.

Matthew Wethers wasn't satisfied though ? he said ?It was good to get a draw at Berwick but I honestly think we could have done better. There were a few unlucky things and I thought we could have got a win.?

MEETING SPONSOR: Friday's meeting will be sponsored by www.scottishspeedway.com whose aims are the promotion of Scottish Speedway, and in due course the provision of training facilitiies.

DIAMOND STUTTER: Whilst not reading too much into their bad start, it was hard to believe that Newcastle's first two home results would be a 44-49 loss to Redcar in a challenge followed by a 39-50 disaster against Sheffield.

They had however won the Tyne Tweed Trophy on aggregate against Berwick.

It is difficult to pinpoint the reason for these two defeats as each of their riders has had some good moments so far, with Derek Sneddon probably being their most in-form rider.

It has been suggested that Sneddon, a Monarchs' hero in anybody's book, is nervous about returning to face his old team, but once on track it is unlikely he will let anything bother him.

His partner Steve Boxall is the Diamonds' no. 1 and Sky TV viewers saw him going well for his Elite team Belle Vue before Monday's televised match was called off.

Jason King was top Diamond last year, and one definitely to watch is Kenni Larsen who will be making his Armadale debut. Trent Leverington while not making a good start to the season did score double figures last September when Glasgow came to Armadale.

At reserve, Craig Branney is a Dale Devil from the Armadale Conference days, and Casper Wortmann's return from last year's injuries has so far been a success.

AWAY WIN MANIA: In a sport in which home track advantage counts for a fair bit, the home win percentage in matches between these sides must be one of the lowest of any fixture. 29% of the matches have NOT been won by the home side since they first met in 1948 ? there have been 38 away wins and 5 draws in 147 meetings. That's about double the normal rate of away success.

LAST MEETING: Monarchs beat Sheffield 53-39 in an enjoyable Premier Trophy match at Armadale last Friday. Matthew Wethers with 12 points was Monarchs' best while lively Josh Auty pocketed an impressive 16 for the Yorkshire side.

NEXT MEETING: Highly rated Workington Comets will come to Armadale in the Premier Trophy on Friday 17th April.