Glasgow Tigers v Edinburgh Monarchs

We certainly didn?t give one of our best performances in the Scottish Cup leg at Ashfield, but we did manage to scramble a 1-point victory with a bit of help from a last heat 5-0.

It was our first look as a team at the newly shaped Ashfield track, and the results tend to bear out the fact that passing was very difficult ? eg the home reserves each won 2 heats but scored no other points.

To be fair Lee Dicken did manage a couple of overtakes with his bustling style but that was about it.

We made a poor start when Tomasz Piszcz, maximum scorer two weeks ago at this venue, hit problems on the bar bend (where several riders struggled) and allowed Dicken through to join Parker.

Heat 2 was the first of the heats to be stopped by the trainee with Monarchs on a 5-1, and the rerun went to Mitchell Davey. It was alleged by those near the start that Andersen had been the rider moving.

Exactly the same thing happened in heat 3, and this time we took a 4-2 in the rerun with Fisher winning and Juul coming off early in the heat.

Heat 4 had a curious result, another win for Davey with Leverington stuck at the back, all from the gate.

We brought in Fisher as rider replacement in heat 5 and he took an easy 5-1 with Piszcz, Ksiezak being right at the back after missing the start.

Parker gated in heat 6 but we had Derek and Matthew following him. Unfortunately Matthew drifted too wide on the bar bend and as he tried to hold off Dicken, he fell on the pits corner.

Dicken passed Derek in the rerun as the captain became the latest to toil on the bar corner.

Heat 7 was from the gate and not stopped this time, Tully and Fisher heading Leverington who didn?t look as though he liked the new track shape much. That put us 2 points up.

Andersen won heat 8 from the gate and this time Dicken could not make progress with Piszcz and Summers sharing the heat.

Heat 9 was a disappointing 1-5 loss with Matthew sluggish from the start again. Parker and Fisher met in heat 10, both unbeaten, and we had another of these infuriating stoppages with Monarchs on a 5-1. This time apparently Ryan was the one blamed.

He won the rerun though but Andrew Tully didn?t repeat his good gate and finished fourth.

Heat 11 was another first bend clutter and Piszcz came down. Invariably at Glasgow this is called as all four back ? but not here, Tomasz was out. It transpired that he had blown his motor.

The rerun was from the gate, won by Andresen with Tully ahead of Leverington.

Fisher and Sneddon then romped clear in heat 12 to beat Juul (who kept on their tail) and Andersen (who didn?t). Scores now level.

Piszcz didn?t have a bike for heat 13 and the home 5-1 was not unexpected against Matthew and Aaron.

Tigers gated in heat 14 but Derek stormed into the bar bend ahead of Davey, who lost control and rode into the fence. He was waving his arms as if he thought someone else was to blame, but if he did he was wrong.

So that was shared and we went into heat 15 4 points down. Parker and Ksiezak gated but Ryan stormed under Ksiezak on the pits bend of lap two. He swung out and Ksiezak cut back into second again. A race at last!

Ksiezak lost control and went wide on the fourth turn, letting Ryan through. He was probably checking Andrew?s position when he collected the fence and took an alarming tumble. He appears to have a broken collar bone.

He was excluded and a rerun ordered (presumably as Robert was about a foot short of the end of lap two).

After a long fence repairing session, off we went again. Parker led again. And he never has engine failures.

Incredibly he did, at the end of lap two, which gave our riders time to lap him and secure the win.

Announcer Jimmy Coyle felt moved to tell us that, in his opinion, Tigers had been the better team. We all wanted to know that.