Sam rides to the rescue as Josh hopes for early return

NEWS Thursday 23rd May 2024, 11:45am

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

The Stellar Monarchs intend to get their Championship campaign back on the rails following their unlucky and unsuccessful opening weekend last week. They lost top-scoring Josh Pickering and went down to two opening defeats, but for this week's visit of Scunthorpe Sam Masters will stand in as guest for Josh, with Lasse Fredriksen also returning to the side after illness.

There is also hopeful news direct from Josh who consulted a specialist in Poland about his shoulder this week. He reports "Not as bad as I first thought by the looks of things. Still have to take things easy for a few days but hopefully not out too long."

Captain Paco Castagna will be travelling for his Grand Prix qualifier at the weekend and so Monarchs call up Berwick's Drew Kemp to stand in, with the captaincy passing to Justin Sedgmen. Scunthorpe will be at full strength and have a solid side not dissimilar to the Plymouth team of last week. The Scorpions recently knocked Berwick out of the Cup and have won at Redcar this year.

16 year old Max James also returns to the Monarchs' ranks this week and everyone sees him as a success so far this season. Looking forward to the match he says ""We have shown we can do it already this season although it is going to be tough. But it is nights like this that show what a team is made of so we will go into the meeting in high spirits, and I think we will get back on track." Max is just over a week away from an appearance in the British Under-21 Final at Glasgow.

Friday's match will be Live Streamed on BSN, details on www.edinburghmonarchs.co.uk.

FRIDAY'S MATCH:

Friday 24th May: Edinburgh Monarchs v Scunthorpe Scorpions (Championship), Armadale, 7:30pm

STELLAR MONARCHS: Sam Masters (guest), Lasse Fredriksen, Kye Thomson, Drew Kemp (guest), Justin Sedgmen (Capt.), Max James, Connor Coles.

ELLIE ROSE UK SCORPIONS: Kyle Howarth, Connor Mountain, Simon Lambert (Capt.), Jake Allen, Michael Palm Toft, Nathan Ablitt, Luke Harrison.

The Championship match will be followed by the Northern Junior League match West Lothian Wildcats v Armadale Angels.

It is the annual Children's Day on Friday and 2023 Armadale Children's Gala Day Queen of Hearts and her Champion will be there.