Monarchs mauled by Tigers on home patch

Apr 29 2010 by Eric MacKinnon, West Lothian Courier

THE Scotwaste Monarchs are aiming to recover from a bad weekend in their two matches this week, with Sheffield Tigers coming to Armadale Stadium tomorrow night.

Before that encounter, Monarchs head for Redcar on Thursday – and Redcar have been very vulnerable at home this season.

The matches are the first two Premier League fixtures for the team, who have not enjoyed the happiest of runs in the Premier Trophy.

They still have two away matches left - in Glasgow and Newcastle - in that competition following successive Sunday rain-offs, but are currently at the foot of the northern section.

On Friday, Sheffield will bring the Premier League Riders’ Champion in Ricky Ashworth, plus one of the most exciting Armadale specialists, Josh Auty.

Last Friday’s home match was probably the Monarchs’ worst display of the 14-year Armadale era, as they went down 43-52 to Glasgow.

Only Ryan Fisher and Matthew Wethers, with 14 points each, rode well for the home team, who dropped behind when neither of their riders finished in heat two.

Then Kevin Wolbert crashed heavily in heat three and struggled thereafter with a back injury.

Glasgow took advantage of the situation to go on to their biggest win at Armadale.

Monarchs were disappointed not to have the opportunity to gain revenge when the Sunday return at Ashfield was called off.

Kevin Wolbert will be fit for the matches this week, with X-rays having shown no serious damage to his back.

Teams for Friday:

Scotwaste Monarchs: Ryan Fisher, Jozsef Tabaka, Kevin Wolbert, Matthew Wethers, Andrew Tully, A N Other, Kalle Katajisto.

Sheffield Tigers: Ricky Ashworth, Hugh Skidmore, Josh Auty, Josef Franc, Richard Hall, Arlo Bugeja, Paul Cooper.

Jozsef Tabaka’s quest for the World Under-21 Championship floundered when he scored only six points in his qualifier at Neustad an der Donau in Bavaria on Sunday. He rode as reserve in the final last season.