The ‘Tru7.com’ Witches face a long journey north as they cross the border to face current champions the Edinburgh Monarchs on Friday (7.30pm).
It’s a quick turnaround for the Witches after they narrowly lost to the Glasgow Tigers on Thursday evening at Foxhall and Ritchie Hawkins’ side will be hoping to get their first away points of the season on the board at Armadale.
The Monarchs have also endured a slow start to the season and find themselves towards the wrong end of the table. In Sam Masters they are led well with good support from Kevin Wolbert and Ryan Fisher. They also welcomed back Erik Riss from injury recently and will be at full strength for the clash.
The Witches will be unchanged from Thursday’s defeat. The two sides met at Foxhall last month with the Witches running out narrow 48-45 winners. The last time the two sides met on Edinburgh shale was in last season’s League Cup Semi Final where Edinburgh ran out 56-34 winners.
Team Manager Ritchie Hawkins says his side now need to start picking up points on the road to kick-start a play-off push.
“We need to pick up some points on the road and getting some away wins under our belt,” said Hakwins. “Our league position will look a lot better and the play-off push will look a lot more in reach so why not start that at Edinburgh on Friday. I don’t see any reason we can’t win there and I know John Campbell was quite bitter about losing at our place so it will be quite good to upset him again and get another win up there.”
The Monarchs ran the Witches close in the home meeting but the boss felt his side were in control that night.
“In the home match they ran us close in the scoreline but watching the meeting it didn’t ever feel like they were running us close to be honest. They’ve not had as good as start to the season as they have had in recent years when they’ve had a lot of success but we need to go there and get our first away win of the season.”
Edinburgh ‘Border Roofing’ Monarchs:
1. Sam Masters (c) 8.72
2. Erik Riss 6.13
3. Kevin Wolbert 8.18
4. Mark Riss 5.00
5. Ryan Fisher 7.60
6. Max Clegg 3.69
7. Dan Bewley 3.00
Team Manager: Alex Harkess
Ipswich ‘Tru7.com’ Witches:
1. Danny King (c) 9.27
2. James Sarjeant 4.58
3. Nico Covatti 7.74
4. Morten Risager 7.04
5. Ben Barker 7.70
6. Paco Castagna 3.13
7. Oliver Greenwood 3.00
Team Manager: Ritchie Hawkins
Premier League table
| Team | Pl | Pts |
| Glasgow | 9 | 19 |
| Somerset | 6 | 19 |
| Sheffield | 9 | 19 |
| Peterborough | 8 | 17 |
| Berwick | 8 | 12 |
| Rye House | 6 | 11 |
| Workington | 7 | 11 |
| Newcastle | 6 | 11 |
| Plymouth | 7 | 10 |
| Edinburgh | 5 | 8 |
| Witches | 7 | 6 |
| Redcar | 8 | 5 |
| Scunthorpe | 6 | 3 |
Last five results at Edinburgh:
14.08.15 L34-56
05.06.15 L37-53
17.10.14 L32-58
16.05.14 L36-56
04.10.13 L37-53
Edinburgh Factfile
Main Sponsor: Border Roofing
Team Colours: Blue and Gold
Race-Night: Friday (7.30pm)
Website: www.edinburghmonarchs.co
Track Length: 260 metres
Track Record: 54.0 seconds (Craig Cook, August 14 2015)
Admission Prices:
Adults: £17 (£15 in advance)
OAP: £14 (£12 in advance)
Students: £14 (£12 in advance)
Children (12-16): £7 (£5 in advance)
Children (5-11): £2 (£1 in advance)
Children (under 5s): Free
Programme: £2.50
Stadium Address
Scotwaste Arena, Armadale Stadium, 2 Bathgate Road, Armadale, West Lothian, EH48 2PD.
Telephone: 01501 734404
By Train: There is now a station at Armadale with a regular service from Edinburgh, about 20 minutes’ walk from the station.