Bounceback Required At Brough

PREVIEW Sunday 17th June 2018, 11:15am

by Graham Muncie

  Edinburgh Monarchs

After a poor showing at Berwick on Saturday night he Staggs Bar Monarchs will have little time to reflect as we head a little further down the A1 today to Brough Park to take on the Newcastle Diamonds in league action.

It would be fair to say that our Championship campaign has not really gotten off the ground so far with only 4 matches raced, this seeing us down towards the lower reaches of the table and the onus is now on the guys particularly in the lower reaches of the team to step up and get us back into playoff contention and points at Newcastle would be a great way to start this.

The Diamonds are new pushovers at home though particularly with the introduction of a rejuvenated looking Matej Kus meaning they are back to a 1-7 that has a solid look about it with all capable of a big score. There is vast experience in the Diamonds line-up also with the likes of Stuart Robson and Matty Wethers now well into their 30's and having had 15+ years of British speedway under their belts (sorry for bringing that up guys).

Ludvig Lindgren has the mantle of number 1 and while not perhaps the powerhouse needed away from Brough his home form has been impeccable of late and he will pose a big challenge to our top boys. Tero Aarnio is another who can be a bit hit and miss (particularly on certain tracks like Armadale) but anyone who watched his performance in the recent Speedway World of Nations (or whatever it was called) knows what he is capable and with Carl Wilkinson a solid performer at reserve there is no apparent weak link in the Diamonds side.

It will be up to the boys in Blue and Gold then to push on and it has to be said some soul searching may be required form some after recent performances. Ricky and Erik have led the way fantastically with both sitting in the top 8 of the current Championship averages with Ricky in particular sitting proudly atop of these but not enough heat wins and to many last places have been coming from the rest of the team. Coty and Max after bright starts have lost their way a little in recent meetings but the hope is this has been somewhat mechanical and both have made changes to sort this. Josh and Joel have shown glimpses particularly at home but need to start finding a little more consistent scoring and Mark has had some good nights mixed in with bad as he takes on the mantle of heatleader for the first time.

That is not to say there is better in them and in particular our top 4 have all had good meetings around the tricky North East circuit before, this will need to be repeated should we be to come away with anything on this visit and what a boost that would be to the team and supporters after a difficult couple of weeks.

Can the boys do it, keep an eye on the Monarchs website to find out.

Full Result Details