Edinburgh Monarchs' Paco Castagna desperate to leave sceptics eating their words
Edinburgh Monarchs skipper Paco Castagna insists he and his team-mates are delighted to have proved a lot of doubters wrong this season.
The Capital septet will welcome arch-rivals the Glasgow Tigers to Armadale tonight for the first leg of the Championship play-off semi-final having finished fourth in the standings of British speedway's middle tier.
Reigning champions the Poole Pirates and Redcar Bears contest the other last-four clash.
However, any talk of Monarchs reaching the play-offs prior to a wheel being turned this year was quickly quashed by so many of the speedway fraternity.
And despite a slow start to the league campaign that saw them lose their first two meetings, Monarchs found their momentum both at home and on the road where they picked up two key victories at Oxford and Scunthorpe.
"The club should be very happy to achieve the goal put in front of us at the start of the year, which was to get into the play-offs, so we should already be happy," Castagna, 31, said. "Now whatever we do is extra.
"We were predicted to be low in the league and we have finished fourth. We deserve the play-offs and that's where we are. We've upset a few predictions.
"I'm very proud that we are back in the play-offs and I'm captain of the team this year, so that means that things went well for us."
Tonight will be the ninth time the two sides have faced one another in 2025, Glasgow coming out on top in six of the previous eight, so Monarchs are very much underdogs.
"We know what to expect," Castagna explained. "We know how strong Glasgow have been this year. They are first in the league and they are not the best in the league by any mistake.
"For me the main thing is to be strong in the home match and try to get as much lead as we can - first of all, of course, get a win. You know that the derby matches are a lot more important.
"If we can beat them at home, we are strong enough at Glasgow to keep the lead."