Monarchs may be well placed for a double cup triumph but they are really up against it in the Young Shield Playoffs. Monarchs face a 28 point deficit from the first leg against Exeter. They need to score 60 points at against the Falcons at Armadale this Friday. Should Monarchs manage this they face a daunting trip to Wales to face Newport in the next round.
Monarchs had a miserable time at the County Ground despite a brilliant effort from Ross Brady who won his first three rides before falling and injuring his arm. Apart from Brady only Peter Carr and stand-in number six Gary Phelps received pass marks. James Grieves and Kevin Little both had a nightmare meeting and suffered engine failures as did, more predictably, Justin Elkins. Blair Scott, normally a strong County Ground performer had a bad time and failed to score.
John Campbell described the performance as "disappointing" but added "I still believe we have a good chance of going through".
This optimism could be well founded given Exeter's weakness at Armadale. Two years ago Exeter could rely on Leigh Lanham, Michael Coles and Frank Smart to score points at Armadale. First Leigh Lanham was forced out by the points limit and then Frank Smart moved on to Newport. This leave the burden of point-scoring on small tracks firmly with Michael Coles. Few teams are worse equiped for Armadale that the Exeter big track specialists
In the Premier League this year, Exeter lost by 59 points to 31 and a repeat of that would produce a tie. In that match, Exeter were without Mark Simmons and Peter Jeffery. Neil Collins came in for Simmons while rider replacement was used for Jeffery. This strengthened Exeter as Neil Collins is always a good Armadale performer and had an extra rider replacement outing. Collins top scored with 12 points and Coles weighed in with 10. The rest of the team were only able to muster 9 points between them.
An in-form and full-strength Monarchs would probably be confident of easily overturning the deficit. Unfortunately there may not be a full-strength team riding on Friday. Ross Brady went to hospital to have his injured arm x-rayed to see if it is broken or merely badly bruised. There are also question marks over Justin Elkins's continuing mechanical problems and over the speed of Kevin Little's bike.
Edinburgh overcame a similar 59-31 away margin against the Isle of Wight to secure the Premier League bonus point. Edinburgh won 63-27. A similar performance is just what is needed.
An overall defeat will free Monarchs to stage the home leg of the Scottish Cup on Friday 15th October. A win will see Newport back again in the Young Shield Quarter-Finals on that date.