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KEY POINTS |
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Ashworth and Franc will depend to a large degree on their gating for points while Richard Hall, happier on bigger circuits, will be hoping he manages the track better than he has on previous occasions. |
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The Monarchs finally put the events of last Friday night behind them with a display last night which was much better than the score suggests. |
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The man to watch in this match will be Josh Auty who must have some very happy memories of some wonderful races round the Dale. |
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Edinburgh Monarchs v Sheffield Tigers |
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Friday 30th April 2010
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Premier League |
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After the misery of last Friday's defeat to Glasgow, we take on Sheffield this week on the back of a tremendous win at Redcar last night.
So it's the Yorkshire variety of Tigers rather than their Scottish namesakes who come looking to become the third team this season to breach fortress Armadale. If you were to name the teams most likely to come close at the Dale, Sheffield would not be high on the list given some of their previous visits to the track over the years. In fact some of them have been as woeful as some of the Monarchs' efforts at Owlerton. However this Sheffield side look a bit more able to cope with the task than some of their previous line-ups. They also come looking for revenge, of course, for the big win we scored at Sheffield last year in our famous fourteen points in three days spell.
The Tigers' team have a new look about them this year having added Josef Franc to form a heat leader trio with Ricky Ashworth and Richard Hall. Ashworth and Franc will depend to a large degree on their gating for points while Richard Hall, happier on bigger circuits, will be hoping he manages the track better than he has on previous occasions. Hugh Skidmore is a face we have yet to see at Armadale but Josh Auty has had some stunning rides at the Dale. Neither reserve, Arlo Bugeja nor Paul Cooper, is likley to cause insurmountable problems and overall nothing short of all three match points on offer will suffice.
Sheffield are another team who have won at Redcar this season having scored a 44-49win in their Premier Trophy match there four weeks ago when the Bears were at a very low ebb. They made no impression at Scunthorpe or Birmingham though and lost at Stoke, the only team so far to have done so. They had the misfortune in having to race in the same Premier Trophy Group as the all-conquering Birmingham side and suffered a heavy home defeat when the Brummies came a-calling. When the teams were announced for the new season there was a widespread view that the Tigers would track a far more competitive side away from home this year than in years gone by but that remains to be seen.
The Monarchs finally put the events of last Friday night behind them with a display last night which was much better than the score suggests particularly since Redcar's Tomas Suchanek suddenly put his run of low scores (and food poisoning) behind him to rattle up 12+1 against us on a new engine to give them much more punch. Having chalked up these three excellent away match points it would be unthinkable to squander them by failing to come up with a six point plus win in tonight's match. Ryan Fisher's 15 point maximum and Kevin Wolbert's 10 points from his first four races at Redcar confirm the team's top end scoring power. What we need now is greater consistency from the rest of the team to back them up and get our Premier League campaign off to a cracking start.
The man to watch in this match will be Josh Auty who must have some very happy memories of some wonderful races round the Dale. We must not let him run riot in support of the Sheffield heat leaders to put the final outcome in jeopardy.
Team line-ups. Edinburgh: Ryan Fisher, Jozsef Tabaka, Kevin Wolbert, Matthew Wethers, Andrew Tully, Cal McDade, Kalle Katajisto
Sheffield: Ricky Ashworth, Hugh Skidmore, Josh Auty, Josef Franc, Richard Hall, Arlo Bugeja, Paul Cooper. |
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