Image Credit: Ron MacNeill

Panthers On The Prowl

NEWS Wednesday 9th August 2017, 7:00pm

by Graham Muncie

  Edinburgh Monarchs

After a disastrous home defeat to Sheffield last week the Parson Peebles Monarchs will be looking to bounce back as they host the Peterborough Panthers in SGB Championship action this Friday night.

While the last visit of the Panthers saw the Monarchs record their biggest victory of the season it could be argued that the Panthers were the victims of some woeful luck that night and with a much changed team this time around another difficult tie awaits.

The task will be made all the more difficult due to the absence of captain and number 1 Sam Masters who was diagnosed with a fractured collarbone after his heat 13 crash last week. An initial recommendation of 6 weeks on the sidelines is the furthest from Masters mind and he is due to go under the knife on Friday to speed up this recovery. Newcastle captain Ludvig Lindgren deputises on Friday and also in our visit to Glasgow on Saturday.

The home men are not the only outfit forced into changes this Friday. The Panthers will head north missing both Bradley Wilson-Dean and Ulrich Ostergaard. Wilson-Dean still nursing a hand injury that has led him to miss out on the Panthers triumphant Fours Championship victory last Sunday. For Ostergaard he has been called up to ride in his native Denmark although the variances of the rules do allow for a guest and double league winning Monarch Justin Sedgmen steps into the fold.

The Monarchs know that they need to get back to form quickly after the shock home defeat last week and face another big weekend with the match against Peterborough being quickly followed up by a visit to Glasgow on Saturday and this is not lost on American star Ricky Wells. Wells stating “I think Peterborough will be a tough test at home but we shouldn’t really be worrying about results at home. Hopefully last week was a minor blip and we can get the boys going again.

This week’s meeting is sponsored by The Black Bull Inn of Mid Calder.

Proprietor Donald McLauchlan is a long term supporter of the Monarchs and the Black Bull has turned into the go to venue for Monarchs social events since he took over and all at the club once again look forward to hosting Donald and his party on Friday and thank him once for his continued support.

Teams for the SGB Championship match at Armadale on Friday 11th August (start time 7:30pm, gates open 6:30pm), are:

PARSONS PEEBLES MONARCHS: Ludvig Lindgren(guest), Theo Pijper, Ricky Wells, Max Clegg, Erik Riss(Capt), Josh Pickering, Mitchell Davey.

PETERBOROUGH T BALFE CONSTRUCTION PANTHERS: Chris Harris, Bradley Wilson-Dean (R/R), Paul Starke, Justin Sedgmen(guest), Jack Holder, Simon Lambert, Tom Bacon

PETERBOROUGH ON A HIGH: While the Panthers may be on the outside looking in as the playoffs approach they will provide a stern challenge on Friday. The Panthers are led by 3 time British Champion Chris Harris who guested in some style for Sheffield at Armadale last week and with backup from future world star Jack Holder and the ever dependable Paul Starke then there is no doubt as to the strength of their line-up. Throw in guest star Justin Sedgmen who is without a doubt one of the best Armadale performers in the league and the battle of the top 4’s may well be crucial to the outcome. The visitors will also be looking for some support from reserve where Simon Lambert and Tom Bacon will be under pressure to perform as they will need to cover for most of Wilson-Deans rides.

LAST MEETING: The Parsons Peebles Monarchs fell to their first defeat of the season last week as the Sheffield Tigers ran out 51-39 victors. Monarchs were led by Wells with 10 points. The victorious Tigers main man was Kyle Howarth with 13.

NEXT MEETING: The big meetings just keep on coming as the Ipswich Witches head for Armadale. The Witches are full of track specialists and will be desperate to make up for the Monarchs victory in Suffolk the other week.