Cami Brown admitted that his men have a mountain to climb if they want to hold onto the Scottish Cup after skidding to a home defeat to arch rivals, Edinburgh Monarchs.
The 48-42 win was Edinburgh’s second success at Ashfield so far this season having dumped the Allied Vehicles Tigers out of the BSN Series.
Overall, it was the tale of two guest riders. Drew Kemp, stepping in for Tigers No 1 Kyle Howarth, only scoring two points while Edinburgh’s replacement, Tate Zischke, covering for absent Monarchs’ skipper, Paco Castagna, scored paid ten.
Brown groaned: “Ultimately, it came down to the use of guests and, sadly for us, Drew didn’t have a night to remember. That’s always the risk when you lose your No 1. Kyle would have scored double figures.”
The team manager added: “We’ve left ourselves a mountain to climb in the second leg at Armadale, but we are more than capable of achieving it.”
If the home defeat was not bad enough, Tigers rider, Kevin Juhl Pedersen, was involved in a bad crash in the second last heat.
Sportingly, Brown admitted: “Fair play to Edinburgh, they thoroughly deserved the win, like they did in May, but we will need to up our game when they come back in the Cab Direct Championship later in the month.”
The one positive for the home side was a much-improved display from Mario Hausl. He crashed leading Heat 1 but went on to deliver two impressive wins in Heats 8 and 10.
GLASGOW 42: Chris Harris 11+2, Leon Flint 9, Mario Hausl 6, Kevin Juhl Pedersen 6, Sam Hagon 6, Freddy Hodder 2+1, Drew Kemp 2.
EDINBURGH 48: Kye Thomson 12, Dan Thompson 11, Tate Zischke 9+1, Mitchell Cluff 9+1, Jonatan Grahn 4+2, Justin Sedgmen 2, Jordy Loftus 1+1
ASHFIELD ACTION: Photographer Taylor Lanning captured this during Saturday’s Scottish Cup tie. Picture courtesy of Allied Vehicles Glasgow Tigers
