Great point at Owlerton

The weakened Border Roofing Monarchs picked up a very good point in a 43-47 defeat at Sheffield tonight, and they were not far off doing even better.

Going into the final heat four points down, Sam Masters and Erik Riss held a 5-1 for a time before the powerful home riders Simon Stead and Jason Garrity barged through to share the heat.

John Campbell said "After last night's most dreadful performance at Somerset it's nice to have a bit of spirit about it, and come very close to getting more than just a point out of it. A much, much improved performance and we probably didn't miss Ryan too much on this occasion as we got paid 9 from his rides.

"Erik's upset because he was holding the position to draw the match, but Stead and particularly Garrity were very, very good tonight. As soon as Stead pushed Erik over, Garrity was through like a rocket.

"We've obviously got to be very pleased because we were so bad last night and we came here to race against a strong team without one of our better riders.

"Miracle stuff from Dan again, he just gets better and better. Everybody did something. Max actually looked very good in heat 2 and he didn't look bad thereafter, but you can't put him out because Dan is so good.

"I probably should have had Dan in heat 11 as well but Mark had done well in his previous rides and I hoped he'd keep it going."

Scores had been tight in the early stages until a Sheffield 5-1 in heat 6 gave them the advantage. We were six down at heat 11 but gained a 4-2 in heat 12 with Dan Bewley winning from Howarth.

A 5-1 loss in heat 13 was reversed brilliantly by Erik and Dan in heat 14, before that exciting final race.

OWLERTON BOUND

After a disappointingly large defeat at Somerset last night we move onto Owlerton tonight and a battle against the Sheffield Window Centre Tigers in Premier League Action.

Sheffield come into the meeting on the back of having been the first team to lower the Rebels colours when they defeated them 50-40 last Thursday. This was a much needed boost for the Tigers who had been on a poor run of form having not tasted victory for five meetings prior to this. The Yorkshire outfit are very much still in the playoff battle though currently sitting 5th and will be looking to leapfrog both ourselves and Peterborough up to 3rd with victory this evening.

Catalyst for the Tigers roaring to victory last week was the return to a full strength 1-7 something they had not had the advantage off over the previous few weeks. Some of these injuries were more serious than others but the likes of Stead, Garrity and perhaps somewhat dubiously from an Edinburgh fans point of view Berge all missing meetings at various stages. In fact the last time we saw the Tigers back on July 29th they were down to only 4 of their regular septet.

As mentioned though all are now back and they will be looking for a comfortable victory tonight against the Border Roofing Monarchs.

The Monarchs off course are now the depleted side after Ryan suffered a broken foot in his heat 14 crash at Somerset last night. Ryan will be hoping to be back sooner rather than later but certainly will miss the remainder of our fixtures this week with Rider Replacement being the only option available to us. Ryan is currently 3rd in the Monarchs averages meaning everyone in the team bar Sam is eligible to cover his rides.

Last night is one to quickly forget for the Monarchs faithful. Not only did we lose Ryan to injury we also saw Kevin and Max put in abysmal performances both failing to beat an opponent. Kevin in fact had the ignominy of being replaced by Dan in heat 13. It would have to be sad the only Monarchs to come out of last night with any credit would be Sam and the aforementioned Dan who continues his speedway education at impressive pace. Paid 8 from his first ever visit against a powerhouse Somerset line-up is not to be sniffed at. Although we can’t be too disappointed with Erik and Mark’s score’s either both being in the thick of the action. So it’s onwards and hopefully upwards tonight as we look to do what we have done so many times over the last few years and come out firing when the chips are down.

Sheffield Window Centre Tigers

1- Simon Stead

2- Dimitri Berge

3- Kyle Howarth

4- Josh Bates

5- Jason Garrity

6- Arthur Sissis

7- Nathan Greaves

Edinburgh Border Roofing Monarchs

1- Sam Masters

2- Mark Riss

3- Erik Riss

4- Rider Replacement

5- Kevin Wolbert

6- Max Clegg

7- Dan Bewley