Newcastle produced a dramatic win over the Isle of Wight to deny Monarchs' Cup opponents, Arena Essex, a place in the Young Shield Playoffs. Monarchs as expected will face Exeter.
The home leg will take place on Friday 1st October with the return at the County Ground on Monday 4th October. This will be a tough tie for Edinburgh who do not usually go well at the County Ground.
Monarchs won the Premier League bonus point against Exeter without too many problems by 96 points to 84. Edinburgh won convincingly against Exeter at Armadale by 59 points to 31. The return leg was a strange match with Exeter without both Mark Simmons and Peter Jeffrey. They used rider replacement for Jeffrey and replaced Simmons with Seemond Stephens."
With Exeter having such a weak team, at least on paper, the match should have been there for the taking. However, Kevin Little was out and replaced by Scott Smith who suffereing from engine problems. To make matters worse, James Grieves after running third in the opening heat, was leading his second race when he was hit from behind by Chris Harris. This aggrevated James's rib injury sustained at Newport the day before and he retired from the meeting. Monarchs were in deep trouble with Scott Smith and Peter Carr both struggling to get out of the gate and Stewart McDonald and Jon Swales off the pace. Seemond Stephens was having a brilliant meeting and beat Carr twice. Ross Brady, on his County Ground debut, and Blair Scott came to the rescue to ensure the bonus point was taken by Edinburgh.
With Exeter now back to full strength and Monarchs still struggling with injuries, a tight match is expected. If Monarchs progress they will face the winners of the Newport v Berwick tie. A possible final against Sheffield beckons!
The full First Round Young Shield lineup is as follows:
Sheffield v Isle of Wight
Newport v Berwick
Edinburgh v Exeter
Swindon v Newcastle
All ties to be run in the week starting Friday 1st October until Thursday 7th October.