Edinburgh Monarchs v Stoke Potters

This weekend we have home and away matches against Stoke. In the Premier Trophy we beat the Potters both home and away and it would bring a welcome ray of sunshine to our poor season to finish our away league programme with a win at Loomer Road on Saturday.

There's the matter of the home match on Friday though before we can turn our mind to breaking our duck away from home. Since last May when they last rode at Armadale the Potters have replaced Alan Mogridge with Paul Thorp and lost Luke Priest in a dreadful accident which has finished the young reserve's season and left him with a long spell in hospital.

The Monarchs, Sean apart, all scored well last time we met at Armadale, with paid 9 or more each, and a repeat of that sort of form should see us win with something to spare. However Stoke do have some riders who can spell danger to our chances.

Mark Lemon has been a formidable Premier League scorer for many seasons now but this has not been his best by a long chalk. Last time he top scored with 13 points but since then he has not always managed double figure scores. Paul Thorp joins him as the other main spearhead in the Stoke side and you never know what Paul is going to do apart from maybe break the tapes something he is prone to do in his need to make fast starts to score well.

The middle Stoke pairing is one they rely heavily on to gain heat advantages. Last time Paul Clews had an excellent meeting here with some determined riding and he was well worth his final haul of 8+1. His partner Robbie Kessler depends entirely on gating to score. Unless he continually makes fast starts he is unlikely to run up the sort of score Stoke are going to need to have any chance of keeping the match close.

Trent Leverington has had some fabulous results this year such as his massive 16+2 (6) at Berwick last July. Even he would admit though that Armadale is not his best track. At reserve Stoke might really struggle depending on who they have as a guest for Luke Priest. Barrie Evans fills the other reserve position but he has not had a great season this year.

There were some encouraging signs from the matches against Glasgow last weekend. Daniele Tessari had an excellent meeting at Ashfield and scored in the home match too. His confidence must now be growing and this match gives him a chance to make a real impression. With new father, Theo Pijper, in magnificent form round the Dale our top pairing should outscore Stoke's.

The same can be said of the middle pairings where Matthew and Henrik should have more than just an edge against Clews and Kessler. William Lawson has not shown his blistering early season form for some time but surely he has to come good eventually and this match would be a good time to do so. Provided Derek has managed to sort out the bike he damaged in heat 2 of last week's match, he should be more than a match for the Stoke reserve pair while Sean Stoddart will be looking to build on last week's excellent performance.

It all adds up to a win for the Monarchs but it would be a mistake to get too confident. We would do well to remember that Stoke produced the shock of the season a few weeks ago by going to Sheffield and winning!

The return match on Saturday gives us a chance to break our duck away from home or at least take the bonus point from the two matches. In the Premier Trophy match at Stoke we won by 44-49 with everyone bar Sean winning at least one race and being paid for at least 7 points. To be fair Stoke were without Alan Mogridge for that match and had to use Rider Replacement instead but Stoke has often been a happy hunting ground for us and the team go there having tasted success. Here's hoping they can succeed again.