INJURY REPORT

NEWS Monday 30th April 2012, 4:27pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

There isn’t a great deal of good news for the Scotwaste Monarchs on the injury front after the double pileup at Ashfield yesterday.

Derek Sneddon has a broken right collar bone and a small fractured bone in his right foot. “The foot isn’t really a problem,” he says, “I can hobble around on it and I’d be able to ride with it.

“My boot was almost ripped off in the crash. My arm is in a sling and I’m on pain killers, though they are not working and I didn’t get any sleep last night. I’m seeing the doctor today to change the medication.”

Typically Derek is already thinking of his return to action. “I know we have Ipswich in the league at Armadale a week on Friday and that’s my target to get back. However I’m not going to do anything stupid.

“I’ll have to get my bike back in one piece as well, that’s another mess.”

Many of the riders were not happy with track conditions at Ashfield. Derek says “Normally I don’t mind Glasgow as a track, but yesterday it was prepared terribly, the worst I’ve known it.”

Monarchs’ reserve Micky Dyer had his poorest meeting so far and Derek said “It was understandable that such an inexperienced rider would not be able to cope with it.”

Charles Wright has been relatively fortunate and has no broken bones. “I’m just a bit sore and have a very painful shoulder. I know I went over the handlebars but I can’t remember very much about the crash at all.

“I never seem to end up breaking anything in these bad crashes, it’s the simple ones when I break a wrist or something.

“I’m seeing my doctor tomorrow but I’ve had three bangs on the head in three weeks and I think I will be sitting out this weekend. When I’ve come back too quickly before I’ve ended up making myself worse.”

On the track, Charles said “It was a bit bad, there were holes on the first bend, but I don’t mind it a bit rough. It slows down some of the quicker riders!”

So at the moment it looks as though Monarchs will be missing both Sneddon and Wright for the weekend matches home and away against Berwick, and at Scunthorpe on Monday. Rider replacement will operate for Sneddon, with only Matthew Wethers from the top five getting a ride.

A National League replacement will be required for Wright on Friday and Saturday but a guest from the Premier League can be used on Monday, as by then Wright will be sixth in the team’s averages.