The Return Of Craig Cook!

NEWS Wednesday 10th August 2016, 11:00am

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

Friday should be one of the highlights of the season at Armadale when our brilliant star of recent seasons Craig Cook returns with the Peterborough Panthers to race against the in-form Border Roofing Monarchs.

Craig was a Monarch for five seasons and captained the team in 2015 to our second successive Premier League Championship, and only moved on with the intention of racing overseas in addition to his Elite League commitments this season. When that didn’t work out the Panthers were the side who adjusted their team to fit him in. He should have ridden at Armadale on opening night 2016 but that was rained off, so this week at last we will see Cookie again.

John Campbell said "I’m now confident that we will make the play-offs if we can win our remaining home matches. That won’t be easy as we have tough matches still to come. Any team with Craig Cook in it will be a danger. Craig is here on Friday and I’ll be delighted to see him."

Teams for the Premier League Match at Armadale on Friday 12th August (start time 7:30pm, gates open 6:30pm), are:

BORDER ROOFING MONARCHS: Sam Masters (capt.), Mark Riss, Erik Riss, Ryan Fisher, Kevin Wolbert, Max Clegg, Dan Bewley.

PETERBOROUGH PANTHERS: Craig Cook, rider replacement for Nikolai B Jakobsen, Tom Perry, Ulrich Ostergaard (capt.), Emil Grondal, Ashley Morris, Zdenek Holub.

THE COOK CONTRIBUTION: Craig Cook joined Monarchs in 2011 and had five glorious seasons, finishing well above a 10-point average in seasons 2012-2014.

He won the Premier League Riders Championship in 2012, and was part of the side which won 5 of the 6 main Premier League-level trophies available in 2014-5. He captained the team in the latter season.

He was also part of the Fours-winning Monarchs’ sides of 2013 and 2015.

In total Craig scored 2,647 points in 226 matches for the club, and he is second to the legendary Jack Young in the all-time average list.

PLAYOFF QUEST: A great 52-39 away victory at Peterborough last Sunday moved the Border Roofing Monarchs up to third in the Premier League, in fact on the ‘ranking’ measure of away points gained less home points lost, Monarchs are second to unbeaten league leaders Somerset.

That doesn’t mean there can be any letup with some tough matches to come. The top six make the Playoffs but the higher you finish, the more favourable the Playoff draw is likely to be.

In the last two seasons Monarchs have topped the table each time and gone on to win the title.

MORE SUCCESS FOR SAM: It’s hard to keep track of what captain Sam Masters is up to these days, but after inspiring Monarchs to victory at Peterborough on Sunday, he top scored for Elite League Wolverhampton in their home defeat by Belle Vue (Monday) and then recorded double figures for Lejonen in the Swedish Elite League (Tuesday)!

PLAYOFF CONTENDERS: Peterborough are lying fourth in the Premier League table right behind the Monarchs, but having had quite a mixed-up season!

Quite apart from the dramatic team changes required to bring Craig Cook into their side, the Panthers have one of the poorest home records with three matches lost, BUT one of the best away records with four matches won (only Somerset are better).

How do you explain that? It ought to make them a threat on Friday but they will be missing Nikolai B Jakobsen (riding in Denmark) for whom rider replacement applies with everyone but Cook getting a ride.

All eyes will probably be on Cook anyway but don’t forget the Panthers also track the Premier League Riders Champion in Ulrich Ostergaard, their captain.

At reserve Ashley Morris is a former Monarch of 2010-11, who was a member of a league winning Monarchs’ side in his first season with the club.

LAST MEETING: The Border Roofing Monarchs had a troubled night last Friday and just scraped home 45-44 against the Rye House Rockets. Sam Masters with 14 kept things steady and once again the reserves performed well. Eddie Kennett was a brilliant visitor.

NEXT MEETING: The unbeaten Somerset Rebels are coming to Armadale in the Premier League on Friday 19th August! So far they have won 14 in a row in the Premier League, and before a week on Friday they will have raced Sheffield home and away and ourselves on their own track.