4 POINT DEFEAT AT STOKE

NEWS Sunday 10th September 2006, 10:00am

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

The Scotwaste Monarchs fought hard at Stoke in our final away Premier League match before going down by 43-47. This was enough to gain the aggregate bonus point.

It could well have been an even better result, though as happens all too often we were short of race winners - just four, and it's hard to win an away match with so few.

As on Friday we had a big advantage at reserve, and we scored a heat 2 5-1.

The home heat leaders scored well though, and we missed a clear race win chance in heat 8. Heat 11 was vital, with Theo Pijper excluded after a first bend fall, and Daniele Tessari third in the rerun after he had briefly been in front at the first attempt.

Theo had his worst away match of the season at just the wrong time. We went into the final heat 4 points down, and though William rode a great race to beat Kessler and Lemon, the Potters' pair held off Matthew who tried so hard to come through.

With Newport gaining a surprise point at Berwick, we are two points off the bottom and will need to work hard to win our final two home league matches.

Full Result Details