Edinburgh lost their opening Premier National Trophy qualifier at Shielfield Park by 49 points to 40. This was a remarkable performance by effectively a three-man team. Ross Brady was out injured and Brian Turner was nowhere near fit enough to ride a demanding circuit like Berwick.
The Monarchs promotion were none too pleased with Ross since he went out on a trials bike wearing trainers. Alex Harkess commented
"We are very disappointed in Ross. Hopefully he'll learn from it and no do it again. We have made our feelings clear to him."
Ross himself said:
"I ride my trials bike to keep fit. I cannot stay in the house and wrap myself in cotton wool. If I can get my riding boot over my foot I'll race against Berwick, but it's only a 50-50 chance."
As things worked out, Ross was not fit and rider replacement operated. Given that Ross has a very good record at Shielfield, this could well have cost Monarchs the match. The Edinburgh reserves had a troubled time and only managed to finish two rides and collect one point between them. Monarchs' top four took six rides each with all getting a tactical substitution ride. Eriksson and Carr rode in the nominated heat while Scott and Little each had a rider replacement outing.
Peter Carr led the way with a magnificent 15+1 from six rides and was only beaten by maximum man Alan Mogridge. Robert Eriksson also did very well with 13+1 from six. He was only beaten by Mogridge (twice) and Scott Smith. Blair Scott had another great away performance with 8+1 from six. Sadly, Kevin Little had another away nightmare scoring only 3+1 from his six rides. He only managed to beat Freddie Stephenson and Steven McAllsiter of the Berwick side. It does represent progress from his last match at Berwick that produced 1 point from four rides.
Alan Mogridge was unstoppable for the Bandits with a paid maximum. None of the Bandits' heat leaders made double figures. Paul Bentley was restricted to 6 points, while Scott Lamb only managed 5+2. David Meldrum dropped his first points at Shielfield after successive home maximums.
Berwick are acknowledged as one of the strongest home teams in the Premier League, so to come so close with a depleted team is very encouraging. Kevin Little needs to start scoring away from home and a few points from reserve will not go amiss. Get Ross Brady back, and solve those two problems then Monarchs should fear no-one!