Sheffield Tigers v Edinburgh Monarchs

PREVIEW Thursday 9th August 2007, 12:00pm

by Dennis Wallace

  Edinburgh Monarchs

After a hard match at King's Lynn it's a daunting prospect to face a trip to Sheffield 24 hours later but that's the task facing the Monarchs tonight.

The 33 point total at King's Lynn last night, although nothing to brag about, was perhaps a lot better than many might have expected given the strength of the home side around their own track. A similar total tonight at Sheffield would also not be a surprise as the Tigers too are a very dominant side round the big Owlerton circuit.

Last night's greatest satisfaction without doubt came from the excellent display by Kai Laukkanen who beat all of the home riders and dropped only one point after his opening ride. If he can suss out the Sheffield track as quickly another big score from him should be on the cards. Unfortunately George Stancl would not rate this as one of his happier hunting grounds and we have to hope that he is not feeling the effects of his heat 11 crash last night with Trevor Harding.

This will be another track completely new in so many respects to Kalle Katajisto and it would be asking a lot to ask him to produce many points against the home men whose home-match set up and experience is a colossal advantage. We will again have to track a Conference League guest at reserve so are unlikley to get much joy there. It will be up to the rest of the team to compete as hard as they did last night to get amongst the points.

Sheffield are not problem free though. They look like being without Ben Wilson for whom they will need to use Rider Replacement and there is some doubt about the fitness of Ricky Ashworth still struggling with a wrist injury. On top of that Paul Cooper has had some difficulties with his equipment so we may just catch the Tigers at a time when they are not best prepared. On the other hand Andre Compton is as imperious as ever at home these days and rarely drops a point at home while all of the team right down to the reserve berths are a force to be reckoned with.

Rider Replacement for Ben Wilson is not likley to create too many problems for the home side because every one the Tigers' team is quite capable of winning races against any opposition at home. Of course it does leave the team more vulnerable to problems for one of the rest of the side should they encounter problems so we may have a slight advantage there.

As with so many of our away matches this year the main objective will be to keep the score as tight as possible to compete for the bonus point when the two teams meet again at Armadale on 31 August. The nearer we get to 40 points the better the chance we will have although we have already beaten Sheffield by 27 points at Armadale earlier in the season in the Spring Trophy.

Here's hoping for at least a score in the mid 30s and, more importantly, an injury free night.

Full Result Details