Spring
Trophy 2nd Leg Preview
Posted 16/03/05
Glasgow head over to Armadale on Friday night
with a slender and fragile looking 6 point lead from last Sundays
first leg of the Spring Trophy.
Although far from over, the Tigers do have a tough
task ahead if they are going to head home with the Spring Trophy,
assuming of course the weather allows Friday's meeting to go ahead.
It seems likely that both teams will have the same
starting 7 as last week although a few will be looking for a different
performance.
Top of that list will surely be Monarchs no 1 Daniel
Nermark who was well off the pace at Ashfield. It seems unlikely that
he will be able to produce a vast improvement in less than a week
later and is a definite Monarchs weak link along with other newcomer
Ksiezak. Harrison and Woodward were both excellent for them at Ashfield
and would be expected to match that on their home track. It remains
to be seen if the enigma, Ross Brady, will have flu this week or if
he has recovered. He is capable of scoring highly at the Dale but
is also capable of disappointing and you never know just quite which
Ross Brady you will get. There are injury worries over Theo Pijper
who aggravated a wrist injury last week but all indications are that
he should be fit, although riding with a brace on it. He averaged
around 8.65 at home last year and is a formidable opponent on form.
Remaining Monarch Will Lawson rode well at Ashfield but in recent
visits to Armadale has struggled, including in last weeks Scotland
meeting.
George and Shane both started relatively well this
year and showed last year that Armadale holds no fears for them. With
the expected line ups the opportunity is there for both to score highly.
Matthew will of course like to continue proving the point he made
last Sunday and he did have an impressive average of 6.85 there last
season.
However, it is well known that Bentley does not go
well there and Birkinshaw struggles on smaller tracks. Unfortunately
these two will also be the ones who are up against the two 'in-form'
Monarchs most often and it may not be a very happy night for them
as a result. Trent should get the better of the reserve positions
but whilst Gary knows the track well, he is in all honesty out of
his depth.
It is early days but with Glasgow weak at 2nd reserve
and having two in the middle order who are likely to struggle on the
track, 6 points is unlikely to be enough.
Expected Team Line-Ups are as follows:-
Edinburgh: -
1. Daniel Nermark
2. Theo Pijper
3. Rusty Harrison
4. Cameron Woodward
5. Ross Brady
6. William Lawson
7. Robert Ksiezak
Glasgow: -
1. George Stancl
2. James Birkenshaw
3. Matthew Wethers
4. Paul Bentley
5. Shane Parker
6. Gary Beaton
7. Trent Leverington
