Poole lift the cup

The What the Fork Monarchs made a decent start to the second leg of the KO Cup Final at Poole tonight, and they never gave up, but gradually the tide turned against them with the Pirates finishing comfortable 57-33 winners on the night, aggregate score 104-75.

Team manager John Campbell said "We were not at the races, completely dominated by Poole and beaten by a far better team on the night.

"Drew Kemp was fine, he was competitive, Sam Masters was competitive and Josh Pickering was competitive, Richie couldn't get the bike going quickly enough.

"I feel sorry for Kye Thomson who is devastated that he has done so badly in a cup final, but he will bounce back."

Poole's heat leaders were pretty dominant with Rory Schlein unbeaten and only Sam Masters able to peg back Steve Worrall and Danny King, once each.

Sam Masters did make it to double figures for Monarchs with Drew Kemp and Josh Pickering scoring 8, though Josh hasn't won a heat in his final three matches.

Monarchs opened with a fine win for captain Sam Masters, Anders Rowe taking third in the opener, and reserve Drew Kemp won heat 2, the first of two victories.

However the next 5 races were all home 4-2s, and with no lead to defend it was pretty clear after 7 races that the Cup was going south. Richie Worrall had started with a couple of good gates but had to give best to the challenges by Danny King and brother Steve.

We kept at it, and heat 8 was Kemp's second victory with Rowe picking up another good point, keeping the dangerous Dane Benjamin Basso at the back.

Poole were gradually taking control though and added a further six points to their lead in heats 9 and 10. It wasn't Kye Thomson's night and he seems to have tired at the end of what has been a very good debut season.

Sam Masters gained his second heat win when he beat Danny King in heat 11, but we shed another 5-1 with Kye at the back in heat 12. Heats 13 and 15 went the same way and the second half of the match, after heat 8, proved a disappointment with very little achieved by the visitors.

So that is it for the season. Cup Finalists (well beaten) and Playoff semi-finalists, that proved to be our limit and we will be back next season to have another go.

Off to Poole for the last showdown

On a dreich afternoon in Edinburgh, we are pleased to say that the forecast in Poole is much better and so the What the Fork Monarchs should be able to complete their Knockout Cup Final by racing the second leg at Wimborne Road tonight.

Heading down with a 5-point deficit was definitely not the plan but it is the reality, and the riders are well aware that last week's matches were a disappointment to the fans. After that tremendous effort to knock Glasgow out of the Cup, the Playoiff semi-final home and away plus the Knockout Cup Final 1st leg were all below par displays.

Will they be able to lift themselves to put on a good show tonight? That will certainly be the intention though as well know, Poole are a pretty exceptional side who topped the league table.

They have Zaine Kennedy guesting at no. 6 for Stefan Nielsen, and the Leicester Aussie has had a pretty good season. Elsewhere we need to get the better of heat leaders Steve Worrall, Rory Schlein and Danny King, plus second strings Danyon Hume and Ben Cook. If any of them are out of touch, they have Benjamin Basso waiting in reserve.

We can't presume that Poole will be complacent and be more pre-occupied with the Playoff Final against Glasgow to come (whenever the rain stops up here) though you never know.

None of our riders can guest in the Playoff Final so this is their last chance to make a mark for 2021. We managed 42 points in the league visit to Poole in August, and since then have introduced Drew Kemp, Jason Edwards and Anders Rowe to the side. Theoretically we should do better! Sam, Josh and Richie all scored double figures back then, and of course two of these are ex-Poole men.

The minimum target should be to put up a good performance and thereafter, we can assess how the season has been overall. Even though we didn't rise to the occasions last week, being Cup Finalists and Playoff semi-finalists is nothing to be sneezed at.