Edinburgh Monarchs move step closer to silverware with impressive victory over Glasgow Tigers

Paco Castagna won four of his five races to score 14. Picture: Jack Cupido.

The hosts won 50-39 last night at Armadale to finish top of the Scottish group and now face a wait to see who their last-four opponents will be.

Recent matches between the Monarchs and Glasgow Tigers have been tight affairs but the visitors simply had no answer to the Capital septet, Craig Cook making a welcome return to the Blue and Gold guesting for injured No.1 Josh Pickering, who was there supporting the team off the track.

Cumbrian Cookie, a double league winner with the Monarchs in 2014 and 2015, chipped in with an impressive 10, including a sensational last to first heat 13 victory.

The 37-year-old initially trailed team-mate Justin Sedgmen and Tigers duo Chris Harris and Steve Worrall ,but a stunning cutback on bends three and four of the first lap saw Cook sail off into the distance. It was a team effort throughout but the rider of the night was skipper Paco Castagna. Following a disappointing defeat at the Oxford Cheetahs in midweek on Championship business where the Italian scored just two in the 54-36 loss, it was the perfect response for the affable 30-year-old. He deserved all the plaudits as he dropped just one point all evening, reeling off four wins from his five outings.

Castagna said afterwafrds: "There was a lot of pressure before the meeting and we knew that they were going to come strong and we needed to start fast. Wow, what a meeting, what a team, what a fanbase - thanks everyone for the support."

Team boss Alex Harkess added: "We're really happy with that and the fact we went into heat 15 and the result no longer mattered took the pressure right off everybody. We would have settled for that beforehand and it was very much a team performance. "Everybody scored well and most of the last places we had was because we didn't have a finisher, either they were excluded or engine failures so everyone was chipping in. I'm very pleased with that performance."

Monarchs: Castagna 14, Cook 10, Sedgmen 8, Thomson 7, Coles 4, James 4, Fredriksen 3.

Tigers: Flint 9, Worrall 9, Harris 7, Starke 6, Smith 5, Pearson 2, Pijper 1.