Edinburgh have never gone through a Premier League season unbeaten at home. This year might well be the year when that record is broken. Hull gave Monarchs a real testing as they led for much of the time including going into the final heat with a 43-41 advantage. While an away win looked on the cards, Robert Eriksson and Peter Carr had others ideas and sped from the gate to secure a last heat 5-1 and a 46-44 win for Monarchs.
The match was a real thiller with Monarchs having to produce several passes to stay in touch with the fast gating Vikings. Both Robert Eriksson and Peter Carr lost to Paul Thorp in the first six heats but remained unbeaten thereafter. As expected, the Edinburgh bottom end found the going tough against the strength-in-depth Hull side. Kevin Little and Ross Brady both struggled.
Paul Thorp started like a train, beating Eriksson in heat 1 and Carr in heat 6 but faded in his last three rides. Garry Stead also started with a win over Kevin Little and scored reasonably well after that. Lee Dicken started badly but improved as the meeting went on. It was René Aas who was the revelation with a paid 14 points from seven rides. The Estonian has generally struggled around Armadale but his gating was out of this world and he proved difficult to pass.
The win boosts Monarchs' prospects of a top-four position as well as maintaining a 100% home record. The remaining visitors to Armadale are mostly big track teams with poor recent records at Armadale such as Swindon, Exeter, the Isle of Wight and also Stoke. Berwick are possibly the team best equipped to given Monarchs a match of the remaing five visitors.
Current Premier League results and tables are as follows:
Monarchs remain in fourth place in the table but are now level on points with Exeter, one point behind Hull and two behind leaders Sheffield. Hull have one extra hom game to ride than Sheffield, Exeter, and Edinburgh.
Monarchs certainly look good for a top-eight place and qualification for the Young Shield playoffs. A top-four place or better is still on the cards. Edinburgh need to win their remaining five home matches and take something out of the theree away trips to Hull, Sheffield, and Stoke. The bonus points won and lost could prove critical in what is becoming a very tight race.
The return match against Hull is now to be held a week on Wednesday. Edinburgh lost 46-44 at Hull earlier in the season .