Edinburgh Monarchs secure Championship play-off berth
The Edinburgh Monarchs have all but sealed their place in the CAB Direct Championship play-offs after a 49-41 victory over the Berwick Bandits.
In a meeting that was littered with stoppages that took a fraction over two hours to complete, the hosts got the job done at Armadale to remain in the hunt for their first league title since 2015.
If the Redcar Bears fail to win at Berwick this evening, Monarchs position in the top four will be confirmed.
The Capital septet still have two league fixtures to complete, both away from home starting at Scunthorpe next Friday before facing the Bandits at Shielfield Park 24 hours later.
The Monarchs were once again without reserve Jordy Loftus, who will return to the saddle next week at Scunthorpe following a concussion sustained earlier this month at Poole. Academy rider Ben Whalley stepped in to deputise while No.1 Dan Thompson declared himself fit following a nasty spill riding for Premiership club Leicester on Monday.
The visitors were also without Peter Kildemand and Jordan Jenkins and found themselves really up against it when, after an encouraging start, were reduced to six riders as Jye Etheridge withdrew after a first-bend heat eight crash, with the score level at 24-apiece.
Former Monarch Victor Paalovaara was also forced to sit out the rest of the meeting after he came off in heat 10 when chasing home duo Thompson and Jonatan Grahn.
The race of the evening saw Thompson charge inside of the exceptional Nick Morris to join team-mate Kye Thomson for a 5-1 and, barring any mechanical failures or exclusions in the final two heats, the match was won.
Thompson came down in heat 15 and was excluded for being the primary cause of the stoppage and Monarchs will hope he has not aggravated the injury he picked up riding for Leicester.
Top scorer Thomson, who is having an outstanding year, said afterwards: "I can't complain how this season has gone for myself. It's definitely been a step in the right direction for my career. I'm more than happy to finish the season off strong and hopefully I carry that on into the play-offs. Fingers crossed we get there.
"It was tough against Berwick, you can't underestimate a team that is full of guests, it's happened to us before and we've been caught out, so they were great out the gate, which made it hard.
"The meeting was a bit stop-start so you can easily cool down. We just had to keep talking to each other and stay pumped up. It was pleasing to pull away into a bit of a lead at the end.”
Co-promoter Alex Harkess added: "We are pleased to get the win but to be fair Berwick made it hard work for us."