Glasgow boss Cami Brown says his team have their work cut out to retain the Scottish Cup when the Allied Vehicles Tigers take on Edinburgh in the first-leg of the derby at Ashfield on Saturday night (7pm).
Brown’s side have reached the top of the Cab Direct Championship with three straight wins and have hit a rich vein of form.
However, Tigers have suffered a blow with No 1 Kyle Howarth once again ruled out with an ankle injury. Drew Kemp steps in as a guest.
Brown said: “Obviously, we are gutted to lose Kyle once again, but his health comes first and he’s simply not ready to return. We wish Kyle a speedy recovery.
“Drew has always done a great job for us in the past as a guest and he’s great around Ashfield so we are confident he can do a good job for us.”
Brown, Glasgow’s team manager, admitted that Monarchs produced a “wonderful performance” in early May to knock Tigers out of the BSN Series.
And he warned: “They have riders who can produce their best scoring displays at Ashfield and we need to be wary of that.
“Edinburgh have also recently found some form with a strong win at Plymouth to push them up to the top end of the table.
“They also arrive at Ashfield with a very good guest and track expert Tate Zischke with their captain Paco Castagna away on Italian Championship duty.”
Tigers regained the Scottish Cup last season and Brown is desperate to hold onto the silverware but he said: “There is no doubt we will have to dig deep to win and hopefully build up a decent margin to defend at Armadale later in the season.”
Brown has every right to be wary of Edinburgh who romped to a 57-33 win over Redcar Bears at Armadale on Friday.
This was the first home match Monarchs had raced for four weeks, and all pre-match expectations were that it would be a close fixture against an in-form visiting team.
What transpired was quite different as the Armadale side gave their best performance for some time which ensure they won the aggregate bonus point as well as the match win.
Monarchs gated well and, when necessary, pulled off some great overtakes in heats where they didn’t make the start.
Italian-born Paco Castagna, Monarchs’ captain, said: “We discussed on the track walk that we had to start strong and we did it. It made me so proud of the boys. Redcar are a strong team, they are gaters and they know this track as well, so it was good.”
It was a memorable night for Jordy Loftus with three wins and he was voted Monarch of the Match though there were several candidates for that.
Edinburgh Monarchs (57): Dan Thompson 13+2, Jonatan Grahn 6+1, Justin Sedgmen 9+1, Paco Castagna 9+2, Kye Thomson 9+0, Mitch Cluff 2+0, Jordy Loftus 9+0
Redcar Bears (33): Nicolai Klindt 7+0, Simon Lambert 0+0, Jake Mulford 3+0, Jason Edwards 7+0, Jake Allen 8+2, Vinnie Foord 4+2, Jody Scott 4+1
SILVERWARE: Chris Harris (left) and Kyle Howarth with the Scottish Cup. Picture Taylor Lanning
