Monarchs cup clash with Tigers

Oct 20 2011 by Kieran Westbrook, West Lothian Courier

THE Scotwaste Monarchs race their final home meeting of the 2011 season against Glasgow in the Scottish Cup at Armadale Stadium this Friday.

As if it were not tough enough against the new league champions who have won on their last two visits, Glasgow have former star Shane Parker standing in for Joe Screen, and a strong rider replacement facility for the injured Michal Rajkowski.

Parker is ending his UK career this month, so it will be his last visit.

And recent form suggests that he is a more formidable opponent than Screen who has done the bulk of his scoring at Ashfield and struggled recently at Armadale.

For Monarchs, they will be keen to show their best form after twice failing badly during August against their oldest rivals.

Monarchs have won the last five Scottish Cups, and 12 of the last 13, but it would be a great achievement to win this weekend.

The second leg is at Ashfield on Sunday.

Monarchs will be at full strength and will be looking to Kalle Katajisto, Craig Cook and Kyle Howarth to show better form than in recent matches, along with Kevin Wolbert, Andrew Tully and Matthew Wethers who have generally been excellent.

After these matches against Glasgow, Monarchs finish their season next weekend with three away matches in the Premier League, at Plymouth (Friday 28th), Newport (29th) and Workington (30th).

They are likely to finish between 9th and 11th in the 14 team league, a rather disappointing effort in defence of their 2010 title win.

Teams for Friday:

Monarchs: Kevin Wolbert, Kalle Katajisto, Andrew Tully, Matthew Wethers, Craig Cook, Tom Perry, Kyle Howarth.

Glasgow Tigers: Shane Parker (guest), rider replacement for Michal Rajkowski, Nick Morris, Richard Sweetman, James Grieves, David Bellego, Theo Pijper.

Several club trophies will be presented following Friday’s match, including the MSSC Rider of the Year Trophy.