SHEFFIELD suffered a 51-39 defeat at Edinburgh on Friday night – but the scoreline was flattering to the home side.

The Sheffield Window Centre-backed side were in contention for the majority of the meeting until Monarchs stamped their authority in the closing stages.

It was a brave display from Eric Boocock’s men on a hot West Lothian night in front of a bumper crowd.

The turning point came in Heat 11 when Aaron Summers and Matthew Wethers teamed up to block the challenge of Tigers skipper Ricky Ashworth for a Monarchs maximum. The four-point gap was too much for Sheffield to recover from in the closing races.

Josh Auty beat the impressive Ryan Fisher in Heat 13 but the home side stayed clear favourites to win.

And when both Paul Cooper and Richard Hall ruled themselves out of contention in the penultimate race the Monarchs were home and dry.

EDINBURGH: Ryan Fisher 17, Aaron Summers 14+2, Matthew Wethers 13+2, Michal Rajksowski 5+1, Max Dilger 1, Byron Bekker 1, Andrew Tully R/R.
SHEFFIELD: Josh Auty 10, Joel Parsons 9+1, Ricky Ashworth 7, Chris Mills 5+1, Richard Hall 5+1, Hugh Skidmore 3+1, Paul Cooper 0.