Edinburgh Monarchs dump old foes the Glasgow Tigers out of KO Cup in last-heat decider

The Edinburgh Monarchs earned the Scottish bragging rights as a 52-38 defeat at Ashfield tonight was enough to dump the Glasgow Tigers out of the KO Cup 91-89 on aggregate.

The Capital outfit progress to the last four of the competition and are now within a real shot of silverware, although the draw for the last four is still to be made.

Monarchs had a healthy 16-point advantage heading west after last night's 53-37 first-leg victory at Armadale, but without top duo Sam Masters and Josh Pickering, who were racing in Poland, the tie was far from over.

But guests Richard Lawson and ex-Monarch and Tiger, Justin Sedgmen, scored solidly throughout with the latter, passing Tom Brennan on the last lap of the final heat to secure a 3-3 to take the Monarchs through.

Josh Pickering, who missed the return leg at Ashfield due to Polish commitments, was very much there in spirit having been on the phone for updates throughout the meeting. Picture: Jack Cupido.

The downside was a high-speed crash in heat 12 involving stand-in captain Kye Thomson, who suffered a pelvic injury. Despite looking second-hand, he was able to join in the celebrations in the pits.

Team boss Alex Harkess said afterwards: "The aim was to get there and we've managed to do it. The win at Armadale on Friday gave us a chance. The first half of the meeting we were doing very well and then we lost our way a little bit which gave them hope.

"But you couldn't write the script taking it to a last heat decider. We hoped Richard would pop out and win the race, but he didn't. And then Sedgy came from nowhere to get into third and get us the 3-3 we needed. Having guests is always a gamble but we had no other alternative. Both Richard and Sedgy are ex-Glasgow riders so I thought they both might just want to prove a point.

"The big disappointment was losing Kye to injury, but we hope it's not too serious and he's back soon because Kye is an important part of this team as he's capable of going out and winning races.

"Sam and Josh will be delighted out in Poland. Picko was on the phone about ten times throughout the meeting wanting to know what was going on so that tells you everything!"