Edinburgh's injury crisis could be drawing to a close. After a nightmare first month to the season, the light can now be seen at the end of the tunnel.
This period has seen Ben Shields crash out against Glasgow at Armadale wrecking brand new bike in the processs. Shields was out for the two matches against Stoke and is only just getting back to some sort of form. This was followed by Robert Eriksson coming to grief in his first ride a week later against Stoke with again a very expensive repair needed. Robert suffered broken toes and has been out ever since. As if that wasn't enough, Blair Scott was brought down twice in that first heat suffering leg injuries. Despite this injury Blair went on to win four heats and just miss out on a 15 point full maximum. The following day, Blair was unable to get a boot on and missed the return at Stoke.
The problems continued to mount at Berwick when Christian Henry was brought down by Derek Sneddon and had his bike wrecked. Amazingly Christian returned to win the re-run from the back but missed out on the trip to Newcastle as a consequence. Then at Newcastle, Jan Andersen fell and was forced to withdraw from the meeting with a knee injury. Jan returned against Newcastle at Armadale but appeared far from his best.
Apart from the points lost due to riders going out when not 100% fit, Monarchs have had mixed results with the cover provided for absentee riders. Rider replacement for Ben Shields worked well enough against Stoke at Armadale but failed to deliver many points in the Loomer Road return. The 16-year-old Rory Schlein covered for Blair Scott at Stoke and Christian Henry at Newcastle and understandably was unable to produce the points that Blair and Chrsitain would have.
Guest replacements for Robert Eriksson have similarly had mixed fortunes. Oliver Allen, who was originally booked to replace Shields at Stoke, did an excellent job at number one. David Walsh did a fair job at Newcastle. Phil Morris was slightly disappointing at Armadale against Workington, but was magnificent at Berwick producing match-winning passes in heats 13 and 15. The most disappointing guest turned out to be James Grieves against Newcastle at Armadale. According to some press reports he was allegedly experimenting with a new GM setup.
Monarchs have raced six Premier National Trophy qualifiers and have yet to track their declared one to seven. They face a couple of away matches this week at Hull on Wednesday and Sheffield on Thursday also without Eriksson. The Herald reports that Eriksson is set to return for the match against Sheffield at Armadale this Friday. This may be too late to save Monarchs' faltering hopes of qualifying for the final stages of the Premier National Trophy.
Edinburgh probably need to win at Hull and keep the scores at Sheffield tight enough to take the bonus point on Friday to have a realistic chance of making the top two. Much will depend on the choice of guest in the two matches. It will also depend on the character of the team. Last season there was often very limited support to Carr and Eriksson in away matches.
After the Sheffield match this Friday, Monarchs still have trips to Workington and Glasgow plus home matches against Glasgow, Berwick and Hull in the Premier National Trophy to sort things out before the Cup and Premier League campaigns get under way.