The severe rain and flooding that has hit the Edinburgh area poses no threat to Monarchs' return match against Berwick on Friday. The flooding that has hit Edinburgh included the Water of Leith bursting its banks. Murrayfield Staium was under three feet of water puuting this weekends' Rugby League Cup Final at risk. Ironically the flooding will almost certainly have hit Monarchs' former home at Powderhall which was situated on the floodplain of the Water of Leith. This will do little to enhance the development potential of the Powderhall site.
While, Armadale has not escaped the terrible weather in Scotland this week Monarchs are delighted to report that the match this Friday night against Berwick is in no doubt whatsoever.
There is water on the centre green but the track surface is rideable, so the quest for a victory over Berwick by more than 9 points (to gain the aggregate bonus) is on! With better weather forecast for Friday, it appears likely that Monarchs will have survived the wettest April in years without a rain-off.
Monarchs will start with their revised race order with Ross Brady back in the team. The 19 year old has missed a fortnight's action, including defeats at Berwick and at home to Workington, but he returns to face the Bandits, paired as last season with Kevin Little following the team reshuffle. Blair Scott will now team up with new number one Robert Eriksson while Peter Carr will move to number five to ride with Monarchs' struggling reserve pair.
Monarchs' promoter John Campbell denied that the changes were the result of pressure by the supporters to move Kevin Little from the tough number one position:
"It is simply time to change. We have made the switch with away matches in mind. It is to try and stop us going 10-2 down after heat two, which has already happened."
"Things haven't worked with Kevin. He is under-achieving. Kevin's career has boiled down to his bikes, and always will. We haven't switched him because of anything said by the rest of team."
The move of Robert Eriksson to number one will certainly help the chances Monarchs getting off to a winning start especially at home. John Campbell added:
"I think Robert will win heat one nine times out of ten. If he does, this gives us a chance in the second race. It becomes a battle if you are eight points down after two heats. You become petrified about what will happen in heat three. And if you lose that, its down the slippery slope."
Berwick will have Scott Lamb in their team after he decided against having the metalwork removed from his arm on being told that he would have to sit out the next three months! He will leave it in place until the end of the season.
Steven McAllister will also be back in the team after being dropped for the match against Workington last week. Paul Macklin came on on loan but has been recalled by Stoke, so McAllister will be back at number six on Friday.
Berwick have a very strong top five, so might be expected to make a fight of things especially if the Monarchs reserves do not get amongst the points. However, most of their riders have indifferent Armadale form in the past, especially Scott Smith.