Edinburgh Monarchs shoot down Berwick Bandits to keep play-off ambitions on track
The Edinburgh Monarchs edged closer to securing a coveted play-off berth after a 51-39 victory over the Berwick Bandits.
The Capital outfit remain third in the Championship table and on course to seal a top-four finish - Poole and Glasgow, currently first and second respectively, have all but guaranteed their play-off berths.
Crucially, Monarchs also grabbed the aggregate bonus point ahead of what is a pivotal four weeks for the club in both the league and KO Cup.
The hosts continued where they left off at Scunthorpe last week and had the Bandits pinned where they wanted them - 20-10 ahead with Monarchs claiming four heat advantages inside the opening five races at Armadale.
However, by the midway point, the Borderers, who still harbour their own play-off aspirations, had cut the home side's lead to just four. Heats nine and ten were shared with Bandits top duo Peter Kildemand and Drew Kemp taking the chequered flag.
There was a tenseness in the air with Berwick now threatening to turn the meeting on its head.
However, a superb gate from both Michael Palm Toft and Jonatan Grahn saw Monarchs produce a timely 5-1 in heat 11 and increase their advantage to eight with four races remaining.
A brilliant ride from Justin Sedgmen then nullified the Bandits tactical substitute and Monarchs were now within touching distance of maximum points.
A brace of 3-3s followed and the three points were in the bag. However, the Blue and Gold rounded off the evening in fine style with an impressive Kye Thomson following team-mate Sedgmen home to secure a 12-point triumph.
Australian Thomson, 26, said afterwards: "We were under pressure for a while as they were coming back so we had to dig deep. It was nice to make some strong heats at the end and a great ride by Justin to knock their tactical ride. I'm happy with my own form and have a good heat 15 and put it to bed.
"We've just got to try and win every meeting and we're going to be busy over the next month. We're looking forward to it and we want to be right up there."