Edinburgh Monarchs v Poole Pirates

27/08/21

Poole consolidated ther advantage at the top of the table with a comfortable victory at Armadale, winning 50-40 and banking all four league points that were available to them.

Responding to promoter Dan Ford's demands that the Pirates resist from snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, the Pirates produced a solid performance to secure those valuable league points as the race for the play-off top spots gains momentum.

Poole never one found themselves trailing and having shared the opening heat, won by Monarchs' top man Sam Masters, they went about building a lead that had the Edinburgh management needing to deploy the tactical substitute option as early as heat seven.

By then Danyon Hume and Ben Cook had banked an easy 5-1 in heat two and extended their lead further in heat four when Danny King just managed to hold out in a very tight finish with Masters alongside. Behind though, Hume had made certain of third place. Rory Schlein ensured that the Monarchs couldn't eat into their deficit as he made a good gate and navigated turn one well to set up his victory over Josh Pickering.

Uncharateristically, King made an error in heat six that left him drifting to the rear of the field, but he corrected himself and quickly regained a point scoring position to again allow Poole to maintain their advantage in-spite of Masters' victory.

Masters was the rider given the tactical ride in heat seven with Pickering filling the rider replacement void, the home side operating under those conditions after their booked guest for the injured Richie Worrall, Nick Morris was served a nine-day concussion rest after crashing in his Premiership meeting the night before. The partnership was too strong even for Steve Worrall and Stefan Nielsen, the latter not enjoying his best night of the season.

A splendid ride by Hume in heat eight to see off William Lawson was supported by Benjamin Basso's pass on Nathan Greaves to allow Poole to make up two of the points they had just dropped but another mistake from King in heat nine allowed the Monarch's pairing of Kye Thomsen and Pickering to level up the affair, and was that noise the sound of Ford's warning echoing around the Poole camp about not allowing meetings to slip from their grasp?

A brilliant first arc sweep by Worrall to take up the running and shock the unsuspecting Masters, suggested that maybe the boss's message was getting through. Hume converting the win into a Poole 4-2, the same score as Basso and and Schlein delivered in heat eleven, the new Dane clearing off in the distance as is his want. Schlein came threateningly close to making it a 5-1 but Thomsen held firm.

Steve Worrall had an untroubled tapes to flag win in heat twelve, Ben Cook filling-in for third spot and once again Poole's six-point lead was back. Masters' fourth win from six rides was easy for him as the two Pirates knew they didn't need to take any chances, the Monarch's having to rely on second-string Lawson to fill the rider replacement berth this time around. One league point was assured even before Hume and Nielsen came out on track for heat fourteen, but they pushed the Pirates towards the maximum four when they claimed the 5-1, any threat from Edinburgh hampered as Pickering spun out.

Just as the meeting began with Masters leading home Schlein, so it finished the same way, the Monarchs number one completing a 19 point haul for his side from his seven ride effort.

EDINBURGH 40
Sam Masters 3,2,3,3,2,3,3 =19
William Lawson R,0,2,0,0 =2
Kye Thomson 1',1',3,2,2,0 =9+2
Josh Pickering 2,2,2',2',F =8+2
R/R
Drew Kemp 0,0,0 =0
Nathan Greaves 1,0,0,1 =2
Lewis Millar
POOLE 50
Rory Schlein 2,3,1,1',2 =9+1
Benjamin Basso 1',0,1,3 =5+1
Steve Worrall 3,1,3,3,1' =11+1
Stefan Nielsen 0,0,2' =2+1
Danny King 3,1',1,2 =7+1
Ben Cook 2',2,0,1 =5+1
Danyon Hume 3,1,3,1,3 =11
.
Ht.1 S.Masters,R.Schlein,B.Basso,W.Lawson (rtd),3-3 3-3 (56.3)
Ht.2 D.Hume,B.Cook,N.Greaves,D.Kemp,1-5 4-8 (56.9)
Ht.3 S.Worrall,J.Pickering,K.Thomson,S.Nielsen,3-3 7-11 (56.1)
Ht.4 D.King,S.Masters,D.Hume,N.Greaves,2-4 9-15 (56.3)
Ht.5 R.Schlein,J.Pickering,K.Thomson,B.Basso,3-3 12-18 (56)
Ht.6 S.Masters,B.Cook,D.King,W.Lawson,3-3 15-21 (56.4)
Ht.7 S.Masters,J.Pickering,S.Worrall,S.Nielsen,5-1 20-22 (56.6)
Ht.8 D.Hume,W.Lawson,B.Basso,N.Greaves,2-4 22-26 (56.8)
Ht.9 K.Thomson,J.Pickering,D.King,B.Cook,5-1 27-27 (56.2)
Ht.10 S.Worrall,S.Masters,D.Hume,W.Lawson,2-4 29-31 (57.4)
Ht.11 B.Basso,K.Thomson,R.Schlein,D.Kemp,2-4 31-35 (57.6)
Ht.12 S.Worrall,K.Thomson,B.Cook,D.Kemp,2-4 33-39 (57.3)
Ht.13 S.Masters,D.King,R.Schlein,W.Lawson,3-3 36-42 (57.1)
Ht.14 D.Hume,S.Nielsen,N.Greaves,J.Pickering (fell),1-5 37-47 (58.4)
Ht.15 S.Masters,R.Schlein,S.Worrall,K.Thomson,3-3 40-50 (57.5)
SCB Referee: Willie Dishington
Gates: Edinburgh won toss and took 1&3. Poole chose & in heat 15
Rider of the Night: Danyon Hume