Edinburgh Monarchs defeated by play-off rivals the Scunthorpe Scorpions as captain Sam Masters withdraws through injury

A below-par Edinburgh Monarchs went down 51-39 to the Scunthorpe Scorpions in a meeting that saw skipper and No.1 Sam withdrawn due to injury.

Despite a lively start in North Lincolnshire that had the visitors 14-10 to the good after the first four heats, the writing was on the wall when the irreplaceable Masters withdrew following his second heat citing pain in his foot. The 31-year-old Australian is top of the averages in British speedway's Premiership and Championship and his absence for the remainder of the meeting proved ever so costly.

To their credit, the Scorpions are a different animal on home shale to what they are on their travels with only reserve Connor Coles failing to score at the Eddie Wright Raceway.

Having easily taken the sting out of the Scorpions 56-34 at Armadale on Friday, the Monarchs were confident of returning north of the border with at least a point.

Sam Masters withdrew with a foot problem as the Monarchs went down 51-39 at Scunthorpe. Picture: Jack Cupido.

However, with Masters unable to continue, it was left to heat leader Josh Pickering to take up the mantle and he duly delivered with an 18-point return from his seven outings, most notably some terrific tussles with Scorpions duo Ryan Douglas and captain Simon Lambert.

Norwegian Lasse Fredriksen also deserves some credit for his paid five at a track he had never seen before.

Team manager John Campbell revealed afterwards that Masters had hurt his foot racing for his Polish club Rawciz on Saturday.

He said: "Sam probably shouldn't have ridden but he always wants to give it a go. He was in quite a bit of pain after his second ride.

"I'm not sure if we would have taken a point with Sam fit as it's not a track our riders go well on.

"Josh was the exception to that of course and I was happy with how Lasse Fredriksen and Jacob Hook got stuck in. We needed a bit more from some of the others though."

Monarchs remain fifth but are now joined on the 22-point mark by Scunthorpe in the race for the play-offs.

Scorpions: Douglas 14, Wright 11, Lambert 10, Kennedy 10, Andersen 6, Coles 0.

Monarchs: Pickering 18, Fredriksen 5, Castagna 4, Thomson 4, Sarjeant 3, Masters 3, Hook 2.