Academy riders eyeing win in fling with Kings
Edinburgh Monarchs Academy will be aiming to make it two wins from two to start the season when they host Kent Kings on Friday.
The action gets underway at the Armadale Stadium at 7.30pm as the National Development League side look to build on their debut win last month.
Scott Wilson’s men picked up a fine 50-40 victory over Belle Vue Colts and they’re aiming to build some positivity around the club given a woeful start to the campaign for the senior Monarchs outfit.
They were dumped out of the Knockout Cup at the first round by Oxford Cheetahs last week, having already struggled in their BSN Series fixtures.
A 54-36 away loss to Oxford was always going to make it tricky to advance, with a slow start costing them any chance, eventually recovering to settle for a 45-45 draw which saw them handily dismissed on aggregate.
It’s now five meetings without a win for the Monarchs following their seasonopening home victory over Glasgow, alongside missing their injured captain Josh Pickering.
A dejected co-promoter Alex Harkess at least gave his team some credit for rescuing a draw from a 12-point deficit.
He said: “We were never in the tie with a chance to be honest, but at least the team showed some fight after a dreadful start to the night. We are so inconsistent. We were OK on our opening weekend and at Berwick, but very poor last week at home and at Oxford.”
Overturning an 18-point first leg deficit was always going to be a tall order but add in the fact that Oxford boasted a line-up that included two of the best Armadale riders in Scott Nicholls and last year’s Monarchs skipper Sam Masters, and it became quickly apparent the tie was over.
A string of five wins from heat three onwards for the visitors gave them a sizeable 27-15 lead on the night, although the Monarchs were at least able to show some fighting spirit in rescuing a draw.
Lasse Fredriksen picked up the heat eight win while Jacob Hook fought off a fierce Cameron Heeps challenge to make it a 5-1.
But while that signalled a change in momentum it was a case of too little, too late for Edinburgh.
Heat 13 was the highlight of the night with Edinburgh guest Richie Worrall and Craig Cook both making strong starts and held a 5-1 down the back straight.
Nicholls though is the ultimate Armadale rider and he smoothly went between the home men on the next corner and edged Worrall at the line for the win.
If there’s one positive to take from their slow start to the campaign it’s that the league fixtures don’t get underway until next week, with the Monarchs’ first SGB Championship clash taking place on May 12 when they welcome the Redcar Bears.
Before that the Academy side take to the tapes on Friday hoping to provide some cheer.