What the Fork Monarchs defeated Glasgow 53-37 in the first-leg of the Knockout Cup quarter-final at Armadale and the sides meet again in the West of Scotland on Saturday (7pm).

Glasgow won by 12 points on their previous visit to Armadale but Monarchs bosses felt it was a fully-merited result with the whole team contributing.

The visitors only managed three race winners – two to Craig Cook – and inspirational skipper Sam Masters led the way for the home side, scoring a full maximum, with Josh Pickering (pictured by Jack Cupido) only beaten once.

Kye Thomson had his best night of the season and, after his customary slow start, Paco Castagna collected eight points from his final three rides. Guest Dillon Ruml, standing in for James Sarjeant, also did well with seven points.

Tigers’ team boss Cami Brown praised Monarchs’ performance and Edinburgh’s team manager Alex Harkess said: “That was a determined performance. There were some really tough first corners out there tonight and there were also some excellent overtakes, especially by Josh Pickering and our guest Dillon Ruml.”

Edinburgh Monarchs (53): Sam Masters 15+0, Lasse Fredriksen 0+0, Kye Thomson 9+1, Paco Castagna 8+0, Josh Pickering 12+2, Jacob Hook 2+0, Dillon Ruml 7+1, Gregor Millar 0+0

Glasgow Tigers (37): Craig Cook 8+0, Connor Bailey 5+0, Ulrich Ostergaard 7+1, Benjamin Basso 6+2, Tom Brennan 6+1, Danyon Hume 2+0, Broc Nicol 3+1

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