Monarchs' former captain Kevin Little vowed that Edinburgh would avoid pressing the self-destruct button at Glasgow on Sunday.
Kevin who had such a disastrous time in the Premier National Trophy qualifiers has bounced back now that the Premier League campaign has started. In two matches, he has only dropped one point from eight rides. The return to form by Little and also by his riding partner Ross Brady has been a major factor in Monarchs 100% start to the Premier League season. However, the wheels could come off the Monarchs bandwaggon should they fail to win at Glasgow on Sunday.
Monarchs have laready thrown away one match at Ashfield when they allowed Tigers to come back and take the Premier National Trophy fixture by 45 points to 44. This followed a spate of tape touchings and engine failures by Edinburgh riders. That defeat was a major factor in Monarchs' elimination from the Trophy. The Premier League fixture has even more hanging on it.
Kevin Little who celebrated his return to a heat leader place with a career first maximum vowed that Monarchs would not make the same mistakes again:
"We have been in positions before at Glasgow when we should have won by a long way but ended up tossing the points away. However we now have Will Bevridge in the side. He rode at Glasgow last season and should make a big difference to our chances. Two or three extra points is often the difference between winning and losing. And Will has the ability to score those points."
Beveridge was signed on loan to try and beef up the soft centre of Monarchs' middle order. He has had a troubled start in his two matches to date, in both cases plagued by machine problems. Beveridge said of his debut at Arena Essex:
"It was not the start I had hoped to make. I just couldn't get my bike to go and struggled to complete four laps. Gary Corbett wrecked my back wheel in my first ride and I couldn't get it changed in time for my second. I fell off in my third race before I finally picked up a point in my last."
Beveridge was a surprise omission from the Glasgow side in 2000. So obviously he is keen to score some points to show the Glasgow promotion they have made an error of judgement.
"I didn't leave Glasgow by choice I was shown the door. I then joined Newcastle for a spell but was forced out there after a reshuffle. So I jumped at the chance to join Monarchs for the rest of the season."
"I hope I will score some points in order to repay the faith promoter John Campbell has placed in me."
Glasgow have had a torrid time in recent weeks with back to back home defeats in different competitions at the hands of Hull. Sandwiched between those two reverses, Tigers suffered a near whitewash at Exeter as they went down 74-16. Guest Scott Swain took second place in heat 15 to break the sequence of home 5-1s.
The Glasgow promotion are unfazed by these defeats and remain confident that the team can start to pull its weight once James Grieves returns from injury and Emiliano Sanchez and Richard Juul start scoring the points they are capable of getting. They are currently looking at introducing a new nine-point overseas rider presumably at the expense of Richard Juul. Unfortunately one target Dane Henning Bager has suffered a bad injury.
Edinburgh will be very foolish if they underestimate Glasgow. All Monarchs supporters know how well Les Collins and James Grieves can go. Mark Courtney has been scoring heavily since his return on a low average of 5.00 points. Aidan Collins looks just about the best new 3.00 point rider in the League. If Sanchez or Juul get things together they could be formidable opponents.
Monarchs do have the riders equipped to win at Ashfield. Robert Eriksson has been a master of the Saracen Park track since he won the first race there last year for Newcastle. Peter Carr struggled there for a while and picked up a total of only six points in his first two visits. He now appears to have sorted things out and has dropped few points recently, the odd tape exclusion excepted! Kevin Little has had a few nightmares at Ashfield but is capable of beating anyone there if his bike is going well.
Ross Brady has looked good at Ashfield and started with four straight wins in the corresponding fixture last year before trailing in third in the last heat. Ross's recent return to form was emphasized by his performance guesting for Reading at Berwick on Saturday. He was called in at the last moment to replace Armando Castagna at number one after first choice guest Neil Collins broke down en-route. Brady was called up so late that he missed heat one but won heats five and eleven before suffering an engine failure when leading heat thirteen. He accounted for Scott Smith, David Meldrum, Paul Bentley and best of all Alan Mogridge in the two heat he completed.
Christian Henry has shown that he can beat Aidan Collins at Ashfield in his previous two visits. So if Blair Scott and Will Beveridge can overcome their engine problems from Friday, Edinburgh have nothing to fear. Kevin Little thinks that Blair Scott, at reserve, could be the trump card for Monarchs:
"Blair scored a barrow-load of points for us from reserve last and if he can do the same again no-one will complain."
If recent history is any guide this fixture looks a banker to go down to the wire. The five Ashfield fixtures between Edinburgh and Glasgow to date have produced the following scorelines (Edinburgh score first): 46-44, 43-49, 47-46, 45-45, and 44-45. That adds up to two Edinburgh wins, two Glasgow wins, and one draw. Every one was decided in the final heat. That is surely the tightest sequence of results between any two clubs.
It is to be hoped that the fixture survives the bad weather this weekend.