Edinburgh Monarchs travel to Stoke tonight with three riders missing following a disastrous heat 1 in last night's match with Stoke.
Ben Shields had already been ruled out with internal bleeding in an elbow injury from the previous week, when Robert Eriksson crashed heavily on the first turn of heat 1. A machine problem may well have caused the fall.
Blair Scott was also involved. The result has proved to be two broken toes for Robert who will be missing for at least 3 weeks, and a leg injury for Scott who nevertheless scored an excellent 14 in the match. By Saturday morning though, Blair found he couldn't walk and has been forced out of tonight's match.
Monarchs will call in 16 year old Australian Rory Schlein to make his debut in Scott's place, and they will use either David Walsh (Hull) or Oliver Allen (Swindon) as guest replacement for Eriksson. Rider replacement will operate for Ben Shields.
This represents a serious blow to Monarchs' prospects of qualifying for the Premir National Trophy.