Just like last year, Edinburgh went down to the visitors in their opening home Premier National Trophy match.
Edinburgh were always up against it when Ross Brady pulled out with his foot injury. This left Monarchs, who had been struggling for points at reserve, with no option but to go with rider replacement. This failed to deliver the points with rides by Chrsitian Henry, Blair Scott, Christian Henry (again), and Kevin Little produced only two points. The strength of the Workington side and the fact that the they are stuffed with noted Armadale specialists made this a very difficult proposition. This was particularly the case with Blair Scott and Brian Turner struggling fot speed from their bikes.
The match was enlivened by a couple of controversial refereeing decisions, neither of which went Edinburgh's way.
After falling behind, Edinbugh fought back with a heat eight golden double. While Edinburgh were within one point of the Comets for much of the match, they found Carl Stonehewer in unstoppable form. Carl had great support from Mick Powell, Brent Werner, and Peter Karlsson.
The match did go to a last heat decider with Edinburgh needing a 5-1 to win, but Peter Carr was excluded and Robert Eriksson trailing in last in the rerun.
Many will now write off Monarchs chances of progression in the Premier National Trophy. But many did the same last year after the home defeat by Newcastle. Monarchs went all the way to the final then!