Edinburgh Monarchs v Leicester Lions

PREVIEW Friday 12th April 2013, 12:00pm

by Gordon Fraser

  Edinburgh Monarchs

Expect the action to be fast and furious once again at Armadale this Friday night when the visiting Leicester Lions will provide a severe test for the fledgling Monarchs side in the first leg of a KO Cup tie, with the second leg at Beaumont Leys just 24 hours later.

Leicester have a great blend of youth and experience with five riders from Scandinavia, one Australian and only one Brit. Into the bargain, several of their riders have ridden as No.1's, more than half have Elite League experience and no rider is averaging less than 5.67 so far!.

Lions will have ridden four matches by the time the line up at the tapes on Friday since they are at Redcar on Thursday, at the beginning of a demanding three days! They have already beaten Sheffield at home and the Scorpions on aggregate, losing by only two in the Scunthorpe leg.

Leading the Lions at No.1 and captain is the former Glasgow, Workington and Lakeside star, Kauko Nieminen from Finland who is into his third year on loan from his Elite League club. Craig Cook will be looking to repeat last week's imperious form.

Derek Sneddon will line up against the 26-year-old Dane, Jan Graversen who wears the No.2 race jacket. Amazingly the former Mildenhall, King's Lynn, Scunthorpe, Stoke and Redcar rider hasn't missed a single Lions match since they were resurrected and last year was voted their “Most Improved Rider”.

Theo Pijper faces the sensational teenage Danish star, Lasse Bjerre who rose to be No.1 at Ipswich, helping them win the Fours. He is in his second season on loan from Peterborough who will be hoping he continues his rapid upward progress in the sport.

Young Max Fricke has a really tough night in prospect against his fellow Australian and No.4, the very experienced Kevin Doolan who has moved from No.5 due to Adam Roynon's absence. Kevin has most recently starred for Ipswich and Redcar and is almost twice Max's age.

Edinburgh's only Danish rider, the ambitious Claus Vissing is paired against the Lions' stand-in No.5, Magnus Karlsson from Sweden. Magnus, who goes about his work quietly and efficiently, spent the last season and a half as a Lion after his transfer from Scunthorpe.

It's German versus Dane at No.6 where young Marcel Helfer faces 22-year-old Simon Nielsen who began his UK career at Workington where he impressed the Leicester management. Simon unfortunately missed the second half of last season after breaking his femur in June.

Last but not least, the flying Hungarian, Joszef Tabaka will be expected to pile up the points from the No.7 spot. His opposite number is Lewis Blackbird from Peterborough who has been around for a long time in the National League mostly with Mildenhall and now with Dudley.

If you read your programme from cover to cover last week you will have seen Leicester is my tip for the top, so Monarchs will have to make the most of home advantage to take a lead they can defend on Saturday. They will need all your support so make sure you're there and in good voice for the 7.30 start.

Likely line-ups:

SCOTWASTE MONARCHS: Craig Cook, Derek Sneddon (capt.), Theo Pijper, Max Fricke, Claus Vissing, Marcel Helfer, Jozsef Tabaka.

LEICESTER LIONS: Kauko Nieminen (capt.), Jan Graversen, Lasse Bjerre, Kevin Doolan, Magnus Karlsson, Simon Nielsen, Lewis Blackbird.

Full Result Details