Edinburgh Monarchs' home clash with Glasgow rained off

Edinburgh Monarchs suffered their second home postponement of the season this evening when their eagerly-awaited League Cup speedway tie against Glasgow Tigers was washed out following heavy rain earlier in the day at Armadale.

Erik Riss has been moved into the No.2 berth by Monarchs and will partner Sam Masters in heat 1 at Berwick. Pic: Ron MacNeill

There was an electrical fault at Thursday’s greyhound meeting at the stadium which has been resolved and the club insist the call-off is in no way connected to that.

Monarchs now head to Berwick Bandits tomorrow night in a bid to stay in the competition. It’s a must-win group fixture for the Capital outfit if they are to have any chance of progressing to the semi-finals.

Berwick’s confidence is sky high following their shock 46-44 victory at Armadale last week and Monarchs need to pick up all four points at stake to keep their interest alive. But their fate will depend on how Glasgow and Berwick fare against each other home and away over the coming eight days.

Monarchs have switched their pairings for the crucial clash with inexperienced Aussie Jye Etheridge moving to No,4, swapping places with Erik Riss who takes on the tricky No.2 position to partner skipper Sam Masters in the opening heat.

Team manager Alex Harkess explained: “We felt it was very tough for Jye to go out in heat one. In the past Erik has done very well when he has come out in the first race, so we will see how it goes.”

Berwick will be without their Swedish racer Anders Mellgren who has aggravated a knee injury and will be sidelined for a month. They will operate the rider replacement facility for him in the short term while awaiting further medical reports.