Edinburgh out for revenge against the Wasps.

It's another very tough match for the Edinburgh Fulfilment Factory Monarchs at Armadale this Friday with the visit of Newport Wasps, the team who knocked Monarchs out of this season's Knockout Cup.

Since they last visited, the Welsh Wasps have added the very useful Swede Emil Lindqvist to line up alongside the outstanding Aussie stars Craig Watson, Frank Smart and Scott Smith. Both teams are chasing a top eight Playoff place at the end of the league season and both are amongst the pack with a good chance of making it.

Revenge mission...

After they drew the first cup tie with Newport this season, defending only a narrow 8-point lead from their home leg, Monarchs definitely fancied their chances of qualifying in the replay.

Newport had inexperienced Aussie Ashley Jones riding in a heat leader berth, but Edinburgh had 'one of those nights' in the second running of their home leg. Both Carr and Schott had a scoreless ride early on and they could only repeat their 8-point win.

To make matters worse Frede Schott had to withdraw from the second leg with an eye infection, and there was no miracle result for the Monarchs.

They know that the Wasps will be tough on Friday, they have had enough practise racing against them!

The return match at Newport is on Sunday August 18th.

Glasgow on Sunday:

There is another vital Premier League match for Monarchs this weekend as they go to Ashfield, Glasgow on Sunday at 6pm.

Team unchanged:

For some sides this would not be worth a headline, but Edinburgh have made so many enforced changes through injury in the last two seasons, it seems worth a mention. The team for this Friday's match will be the same as last Friday's!

The last time they fielded their own 7 riders for 2 matches running was 18th / 21st June, and the last time they fielded the same team for two HOME matches on successive Fridays was 26th April / 3rd May.

Rory going up:

This weekend's matches will be the last for the time being for Rory Schlein in the reserve berth.

He will finally complete 12 relevant matches assuming Friday's fixture goes ahead, and will be given a new average effective from 16th August. The figure should be between 5.5 and 6.

Teams for the Premier League match at Armadale on Friday 9th August (start time 7.30, doors open 6.30) are:

Edinburgh Fulfilment Factory Monarchs: Frede Schott (capt.), Christian Henry, Magnus Karlsson, Theo Pijper, Peter Carr, Aidan Collins, Rory Schlein.

Newport Wasps: Craig Watson (capt.), Lee Dicken, Emil Lindqvist, Scott Smith, Frank Smart, Barrie Evans, Carl Wilkinson.

Good year for Wasps:

After a couple of seasons in the doldrums, Newport are enjoying year 2002. They were runners-up, through Watson and Smart, in a thrilling Premier Pairs contest, and also qualified for Finals day in the Premier Fours.

They are well in the hunt for a Playoff place and have reached the Knockout Cup semi-finals, beating Arena Essex after removing Edinburgh.

They have kept almost an unchanged team throughout the season other than the no. 3 spot, now solidly filled by Lindqvist who has returned to his original Premier club.

They can now say they don't really have a weak link, with effective second strings and a reserve pair which has run with reasonable success all season.

Last week's meeting:

The Fulfilment Factory Monarchs did very well to defeat Swindon 48-42 with Schlein (11), Carr and Schott (10 each) top scoring. Magnus Karlsson made a steady debut with 5 points.

Next week's meeting:

Edinburgh may have won at Hull recently, but the Vikings will provide strong opposition when they come to Armadale on Friday 16th August. They still believe they can win the league and have powerful heat leaders in Paul Thorp, Robbie Kessler and Garry Stead and have recently signed Swede Emil Kramer to replace injured Scot Ross Brady.