Monarchs had a tough time last Friday with Workington pushing them all the way. Things will not get any easier this week with Newcastle the visitors. Since Armadale opened for speedway in 1997, only seven competitive matches have been won by the visiting team. Five of those defeats were at the hands of Newcastle and Workington. The only other winners have been Peterborough and Berwick both in 1998.
Workington won at the Arena twice last year in the Premier National Trophy and in the Premier League Cup. Newcastle have done the trick three times. In 1997, they ended Monarchs unbeaten home record in the last Premier League match of the season. They had earlier had a draw at Armadale in the Cup qualifying stage overturned after an illegal tyre was used inadvertantly. Newcastle went one better in 1999 wining twice. They won the season opener in the Premier National Tropy and followed up with a dramatic win in Premier League in a match of two 'golden doubles'. Between these two defeats Monarchs did manage a couple of wins over their rivals in between the two losses and eliminated the Diamonds from both the Cup and the Premier National Trophy.
The current Newcastle team look even better equipped to succeed at Armadale than their predecessors. Jesper Olsen is one of the best riders around Armadale able to win matches from the gate or from the back. Bjarne Pedersen has scored well on all his visits. André Compton did so well at Armadale that Monarchs tried to sign him at the start of this season. Richard Juul has proved a match winner for the Diamonds here in his previous spell with Newcastle. He lists Armadale as his favourite track and has guested for Monarchs in the past. Kevin Little needs little introduction after three years riding for Moanrchs as a heat leader. At reserve, Newcastle have former Dale Devil and Monarchs target Rob Grant and another former Monarch, James Birkinshaw.
The Newcastle team would certainly test a full strength Monarchs team. The Edinburgh team on Friday will certainly not be at full strength. Robert Eriksson has been ruled out of the meeting. It is hoped that Christian Henry, injured at Berwick, and Jan Andersen, injured at Newcastle, will be back. Blair Scott and Ben Shields have only recently recovered from injury. Given the problems that Monarchs have faced so far this season it is little short of miraculous that they remain top of the Northern Group of the Premier National Trophy.
Results and Tables are given below:
Premier National Trophy Results
Premier National Trophy Tables
Teams for the Premier Trophy match at Armadale on Friday 6th April (start time 7.30, doors open 6.30) are:
Edinburgh Monarchs: Guest replacement for Robert Eriksson, Blair Scott, Ben Shields, Jan Andersen, Peter Carr (capt.), Christian Henry, Derek Sneddon.
Newcastle Diamonds: Bjarne Pedersen, Richard Juul, André Compton, Kevin Little, Jesper Olsen, Robert Grant, James Birkinshaw.
This match will be Edinburgh's third home match qualifying for Green Sheet averages. Three away matches have already been completed. This will mean that the Monarchs' team will be given new averages after this match effective for the visit of Sheffield on Friday 13th April. Or rather Peter Carr, Derek Sneddon, and hopefully Jan Andersen will get new averages. Ben Shields has missed two matches, Blair Scott and Christian Henry have missed one match and Robert Eriksson has missed five.
Assuming Jan Andersen does ride on Friday he will almost certainly move up to heat leader next week with Ben Shields still on his assessed average dropping to second string. Once Ben has completed his six matches he will most likely drop to reserve a week later with Christian Henry moving up to second string. Blair Scott may yet push Jan Andersen for the third heat leader place when he completes his six matches.
The encouraging thing about the averages to date is that five of Monarchs' team have improved on their starting averges. The exceptions are Ben Shields and Robert Eriksson who has yet to complete a heat. Jan Andersen, Blair Scott, and Christian Henry are all up around 50% on their starting averages. Peter Carr appears to be achieving the impossible by improving on his already high 2000 average. Finally Derek Sneddon is up around 10% on his assessed three-point average and all are delighted with his progress.
If Ben Shields can overcome his early problems, Robert Eriksson returns, and the increases in averages are sustained, this could put Monarchs right up with the best of teams in the Premier League.