Edinburgh Monarchs v Rye House Rockets

We haven't beaten Rye House since our championship winning season of 2003 and, quite frankly, we will have a fight on our hands to change that record on Friday night.

It has been a traumatic season for the Rockets who have already lost through injury Stuart Robson, Luke Bowen and Jaimie Courtney plus from time to time Robson's replacement, Ross Brady. But such are the rules and fortunes of speedway that the team we may have to face will be just as strong as their full strength side.

Why 'may'? Well a couple of issues about the side the Rockets have announced need some sort of explanation. Firstly why have the Rockets been allowed to field a guest in place of the absent Edward Kennett? Kennett is riding in a Grand Prix Qualifier in Slovakia on Sunday the same meeting as Theo Pijper, who is riding in Friday's match, will be riding in. And why have the Rockets listed Steve Boxall at reserve when he has been ordered by the BSPA to be moved into the main body of the Rye House team on the change of averages which came into force last Sunday? It will be interesting to learn the outcome of these issues although it would come as no surprise if they were resolved in the Rockets' favour.

As far as the match is concerned you certainly have to have some sympathy for the Rockets whose injury list has been horrific and who have coped so well particularly by giving a chance to two of their Conference League side rather than resort to guest bookings like so many other teams. On this occasion they still look to be at least a match for the Monarchs (though it pains me to say so) because they have in their ranks so many fast starters.

The guest replacement for Edward Kennett is Glasgow's Danny Bird whose gating is quite phenomenal. Unless track conditions are such that the team can find enough grip to allow them a chance to reel him in, it is quite likely that Bird will drop very few (if any) points if he is again able to gain such a massive advantage from the tapes. Then if Steve Boxall is allowed to remain at reserve despite the edict from above then we can be certain that he will be taking seven rides against us covering some of the R/R rides for Jaimie Courtney and one of Danny Betson's rides. On his current form on all sorts of tracks up and down the country that should earn him another massive double figure score.

Then, as if that's not enough, we have to cope with another very fast gater in Ross Brady whose speed from the tapes was one of our main weapons last season before injuries took their toll on him. Add to that the prolific scoring of Chris Neath and you'll get the idea of how difficult a match this is shaping up to be for us.

So where can we look for an advantage? Well Jaimie Courtney's R/R rides would be one source but as Steve Boxall is likely to take at least a couple of them that has its limitations. Tommy Allen has been a thorn in our side in recent visits but has not shown such good form this year so we should have an advantage there. Although Danny Betson has looked impressive on his promotion from the Rye House Conference League side he will surely not provide too much of a challenge for us on this occasion.

The Monarchs will be riding for the first time with new pairings. Theo and Matthew form the number one partnership while Rusty and Henrik make up the middle pairing. This could work in our favour because it gives a better balance to the side particularly in the later heats. William takes the difficult number five position riding with the reserves but this gives him the opportunity to establish himself as a heat leader and the incentive to push on from his excellent early season form.

Of course you never know in speedway which is one of its main attractions. But there can be no doubt that this Rye House side, weakened or not, will probably be more of a threat to our unbeaten league record than any other visitors to Armadale this season. Let's hope that we can rise to the occasion and see them off this time to produce a result which might raise a few eyebrows.