Play-off berth within touching distance for Edinburgh Monarchs
The Edinburgh Monarchs took a big step towards securing their place in the CAB Direct Championship play-offs with a 47-43 victory over the Poole Pirates.
The Capital septet remain third in the league standings with just three meetings remaining and will all but secure their spot in the semi-finals with victory over the Berwick Bandits at Armadale on Friday.
As it stands, the Monarchs would be on course to meet arch-rivals the Glasgow Tigers over two legs, with reigning champions Poole going head to head with Scunthorpe.
However, there are still a few twists and turns expected before the line up is finalised early next month.
Although Poole bagged the aggregate bonus point following their 52-38 success at Wimborne Road 10 days ago, the Monarchs can be extremely satisfied with a productive night's work in West Lothian.
Poole have historically been the Monarchs Achilles heel since the Dorset side dropped down to British speedway's middle tier six years ago, and have enjoyed success on previous trips north of the border.
However, the hosts got off to the strongest possible start when Jonatan Grahn was electric from the tapes in heat one and the Swede never relinquished his lead, being joined by team-mate Dan Thompson to seal the first of four 5-1s.
But the Pirates are no slouches and despite finding themselves 10 points adrift at the midway point, they began chipping into that deficit to claw it back to within four when top Pirate Richard Lawson and Eddie Kennett combined for a 4-2 in heat 11.
But Monarchs, who were without Jordy Loftus, showed their mettle with Justin Sedgmen and Mitch Cluff combining for a maximum in heat 12 that edged the hosts closer to the finish line.
And when skipper Paco Castagna won the penultimate race of the night, the points were secured.
Grahn, who scored eight for the home side, said: "It was a good night for all the boys. I was happy with my starts, particularly from gate four, which I think was probably one of my best here. It was a fun night and happy to get the win. We are a team who race for each other so all the boys in the pits want to get out there and get as many points for the whole club."