Monarchs March Through

The What the Fork Monarchs put in their best performance of the young season controlling the match from start to finish as they ran out 52-38 victors on the day meaning an 18 point victory on aggregate.

The Monarchs controlled the match from the get go building a 10 point advantage by heat 5 and with Guest Stevie Worrall, twin brother Richie and Josh Pickering all on form the tie was never in doubt from there.

Stand in skipper Pickering said after 'It was a great team performance, we came here with a job to do and we knew we were capable of it.

'We got off to a good start and we maintained it, I was a bit disappointed with my ending but at the end of the day we won as a team and that's great.'

As said earlier the tone was set from the off when Steve Worrall led from tapes to flag in heat 1, Nathan Greaves picking up a good point ahead of home guest Tero Aarnio.

The lead was stretched in heat 3 when Kye Thomson and Pickering led from tapes to flag an impressive Newcastle debut for Thomson.

Worrall and Greaves went one better than their heat 1 exploits in heat 5 with a maximum this meant a 10 point advantage on the day 14 on aggregate and the Monarchs were on their way.

Heat 8 was the only blip on the night as the home men's most impressive duo Adam Roynon and James Wright rocketed from the start to take a 5-1.

The lead was 6 at this point this being maintained over the next 4 races with a string of shared heats. The most interesting being heat 10 where Pickering blasted from 3rd to 1st with a fantastic move.

Heat 13 looked good on paper for the Monarchs with the Worrall brothers only headed once each and they duly obliged with a heat maximum this putting the advantage back to 10 and confirming the tie.

They weren't done yet though as they repeated the feat in the final heat meaning the final score of 52-38 and a place in the quarter finals against Redcar or Birmingham awaits

Work To Do At Brough

The What the Fork Monarchs head to Brough Park with a job to do after an excellent Newcastle performance meant all the Armadale men could muster was a 4 point lead.

While there was nothing to stop Sam Masters and Richie Worrall romping to full houses the rest of the Monarchs could not back this up as the Diamonds stuck to their task well and with James Wright rolling back the years the Diamonds probably go into Sunday's second leg as favourites.

Both teams have changes at the top of their lineups with Sam missing out due to Polish commitments Stevie Worrall steps in. While for the Diamonds Ben Barker's hand injury leaves him on the sidelines still, Scunthorpe's Tero Aarnio comes into the fray.

Elsewhere the teams are as expected with Joe Lawlor making his Monarch's comeback after an enforced absence due to a wrist injury.

This will be the Diamond's first home match under the new management of Rob Grant and I'm sure after the 18 months or so he has faced since taking over I'm all at Brough will be delighted to get back on track.

While mentioned that Newcastle may well start as favourites the Monarchs can travel with some hope. Sam is a big miss but as a former Diamonds number 1 and Monarch's league winner Steve Worrall is as good a guest as could be hoped. Richie and Josh both rate Brough as one of their favourite circuits while at reserve Willie Lawson is another former Diamond with a breadth of experience.

For the Diamonds they will be looking for more of the same as Friday with the top Diamonds no doubt hoping for a scalp or two on their home circuit.

So it's a 4 point lead for the Monarchs to defend should they be to progress to the next round of the cup where Redcar or Birmingham await.

Live updates will be available on the Monarchs website with tapes due to fly at 4pm