Edinburgh Monarchs v Glasgow Tigers

PREVIEW Friday 10th May 2013, 12:00pm

by Gordon Fraser

  Edinburgh Monarchs

It's a return to League Cup action this Friday at Armadale (7.30) when Joe Screen brings a much more confident Glasgow Tigers side east than he did in the season's opening fixture with four riders new to these keenly contested local derbies.

The new Tigers' management and team are beginning to improve with every fixture, starting as they should by specialising in exciting home wins in front of their own fans. They've had a lean time on the road so far but they'll be determined to change that this week.

At No.1, Craig Cook has been in scintillating form of late while Joe Screen has been showing he is far from a spent force at Premier League level. Both are fantastic favourites with their fans, so appreciate this match-up while both are riding for Scotland's rival clubs.

Monarchs' captain Derek Sneddon has been struggling to find consistency this season so far so he will hope to raise his game this week against 24-year-old Joey Ringwood from New South Wales who has started to pick up regular points in his first Premier League season.

Theo Pijper is the beating heart in the engine room of the Monarchs team this year and he will want to continue his fine run of solid scores against 26-year-old James Wright from Stockport who has been given the chance by Glasgow to regain his past Elite League standards.

Young Max Fricke looks supremely comfortable on a speedway bike and is already starting to get on the Premier League pace. His opposite number, 32-year-old Henning Bager from Esbjerg in Denmark is another Tiger finding it difficult to get back to his former best.

Edinburgh fans will be hoping their exciting, crowd pleasing Dane, Claus Vissing, is fully fit after his two falls and a submission at Scunthorpe on Monday. His opposing No.5 is Paisley born James Grieves, now 38, who first rode for Glasgow aged 17 and has gone on to be their second highest ever points scorer.

Monarchs fans are starting to be concerned about the confidence of their young German rider, Marcel Helfer so they will be hoping for better this week against late-starter, 21-year-old Harley Horwood from Australia's Gold Coast who only took a couple of races to get the hang of the Scotwaste Arena.

Last but not least at No.7 is Monarchs' exocet missile, Joszef Tabaka who is what every team wants, a reserve who can win any race. His opposite number, 19-year-old Joe Jacobs from Ipswich is already showing that he too can make his mark at Premier League level.

Glasgow will be aiming to put up a much better fight of things all the way through the card this time and keep Monarchs waiting for the two points they need to progress to the semi-finals. As for Monarchs, they will be looking for the scoring to be more evenly spread throughout their team.

Both teams are still a fair way from being the finished article but home advantage should be expected to help Monarchs maintain their recent supremacy in these fixtures. Track conditions may play a part again but Monarchs should have too much fire-power for the Tigers in Cook, Pijper, Vissing and Tabaka.

However there are numerous riders on either side of the pits who could suddenly spring a surprise on the night and of course anything can and does happen in speedway. There are some great match-ups and the action should be fierce, so be there for 7.30 to ensure you don't miss a moment.

Likely line-ups:

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

GLASGOW WESTERN COMMERCIALS TIGERS: Joe Screen (capt.), Joey Ringwood, James Wright, Henning Bager, James Grieves, Harley Horwood, Joe Jacobs.

Full Result Details