PREVIEW Thursday 21st October 2021, 12:00pm
Edinburgh Monarchs
After their famous KO cup victory last Friday the What the Fork Monarchs will need to be wary of a backlash as they head to Ashfield to on Thursday evening in the first leg of the Championship playoff semi final.
The Tigers now know that the league is their last chance of any glory this year and after beating the Monarchs by 16 in the Cup semi first leg the other week they will be looking for as big a lead as possible to defend at Armadale on Friday.
As has been the way for the last few years the Tigers talisman is former league winning Monarch Craig Cook and with a solid lineup behind him any of the remaining men in red and white are able to have a big night and are a danger in any heat.
Tom Brannan is enjoying the time of his life just now being unbeaten in his few rides in the Speedway of Nations last week for the triumphant team GB and with a top 5 made up of Broc Nicol, Sam Jensen and Ricky Wells there is no weak link in the that quintet.
Any belief that with such a solid top end a soft bottom end will be in place is absolutely null and void as the Tigers line-up with one of the most potent reserve pairings in the league…… at home anyway. Marcin Nowak has adapted to the Ashfield circuit immediately and with Connor Bailey now up to speed after missing the start of the season there is a real sting in the tail.
Hoping to nullify these threats and still on a high after that 20 point victory over the same opposition at Armadale last weekend the Monarchs line-up as they have recently with Jason Edwards coming in for Nathan Greaves at the bottom end. Edwards continuing to impress.
The Monarchs will be hoping for an uptick in scoring from Josh Pickering, Richie Worrall and Drew Kemp from the last visit to Ashfield. Machine issues for all 3 led to a combined 12 point and the minimum hope would be a couple of points each would be added onto this.
Elsewhere similar performances to last time from Sam Masters, Kye Thomson and Edwards would be welcome while Anders Rowe will also look for an improvement from before.
So, a huge match lies ahead and an intriguing one as both sides go in with reasons to be confident, as witnessed last weekend no tie is ever fully settled in the first leg but either side could put one foot in the final with a big result.
The action starts at 19.30 with live updates available on the Monarchs official website should you not be able to get through to Ashfield to cheer on your favourites