The Allied Tigers travelled to West Lothian in search of their first league win at Armadale since 2011 and duly delivered with a 48-42 victory.
Guest Steve Worall called off unwell prior to the match but his brother Richie stepped in and proved to be a more than able deputy scoring 9+2.
Stewart Dickson’s decision to switch Richard Lawson to no.2 in the riding order was a major talking point on various social media pages and forums prior to the match – it proved to be an extremely shrewd tactical manoeuvre by the Glasgow boss.
The Tigers got off to the best possible start when they took a 5-1 in the opening heat with Lawson and Worrall heading home Monarchs no.1 Sam Masters. Victor Palovaara continued his sequence of winning heat 2 at Armadale, with James Sarjeant finishing 3rd to extend the Tigers lead.
Aaron Summers gave the Tigers their 3rd heat win in succession with Wolbert and Sedgmen filling the minor places.
Edinburgh’s pairing of Cook and Riss cut the deficit to four points with a 4-2 in heat 4 with Wolbert unable to split the Tigers pairing in heat 5, while Sedgmen took the win for the home side.
Masters and Branford took a 4-2 in heat 6 to leave the Tigers ahead 19-17. Berge fell again while at the back and he continues to look uncomfortable on the smaller tracks.
Turning Point
After sharing heat 7 the Tigers probably expected a heat advantage in heat 8 especially after Branford came to grief on the 2nd bend. However, in the re-run Riss popped out and Lawson was unable to find a way past the German.
The Monarchs took the lead for the first time in the match thanks to a 5-1 from Cook and Sedgmen in heat 9 and extended their lead further with a 4-2 in heat 10 as Summers’ bike failed when he left the tapes.
However, the turning point came in heat 11 when Lawson and Worrall sped from the start and headed home Cook for a 5-1 that sent the large travelling into raptures levelling the scores at 33-33.
Aaron Summers then defeated Wolbert and James Sarjeant took 3rd to put the Tigers ahead by 2 after 12 heats.
Masters and Cook lined up in heat 13 looking to put the home side ahead once more but a hugely important second place from Worrall left the scores level at 39-39.
Heat 14 could have gone either way and when Lawson and Sarjeant gated on a 5-1 the Tigers looked set to secure at least a draw but referee Dishington deemed the start unsatisfactory.
However, credit to the Tigers pairing as they repeated the trick in the re-run and took the 5-1 much to the delight of the away support congregated on the 3rd bend.
In heat 15 Monarchs went as expected with Masters and Cook while the Tigers lined up with Worrall and Lawson.
In an almost carbon copy of heat 14 the away side shot from the tapes but Cook found a way past Worrall entering turn 3.
Barring a disaster the Tigers were set for the three league points and a fantastic away win against their Scottish rivals.
Richard Lawson produced a flawless 4 laps to take the chequered flag in what must rank as one of his best Armadale performances and Worrall finished 3rd to make the final score 48-42 to the Allied Tigers.
Tigers Scorers:
Richie Worrall 9+2
Richard Lawson 14+2
Aaron Summers 8
Kozza Smith R/R –
Dimitri Berge 0
Victor Palovaara 8+1
James Sarjeant 9+1