EDINBURGH ace Kye Thomson has vowed they are “ready for the fight” against Oxford.
The Stellar Omada Monarchs face the Cheetahs without inspirational No.1 and captain Josh Pickering for the Championship KO Cup quarter-final clash at Cowley tonight, live on BSN.
Chris Harris is drafted in as a guest replacement against the strong-looking home side. For the second leg at Armadale 24 hours later, Richie Worrall comes in for the Scottish side.
After their luckless BSN Series campaign, Thomson believes they have time to get back to winning ways.
He told EMTV: “We’ve had a bit of a bump in the road at the start of these last few meetings.
“Now we are out of the BSN Series we need to really knuckle down this is where it really matters. We need to put it all behind us, it’s just a learning curve.
“We are all ready to go and ready to try and win a few matches.
“We’ve got to go to Oxford with a strong mind. We all can beat anyone really. We’ve just got to put it all out there on the track and hopefully be consistent. We are ready for the fight.”
The defeats home and away to Berwick plus losing Picko with a shoulder injury have certainly hit the Monarchs.
But Thomson refuses to be downbeat. He added: “It was a bit of a blow but it’s only early stages. We have time to re-group and turn things around.
“I know for sure we’ll turn things around. It just needs everyone to click. It was a little bit tough.
“The first meeting of the season was against Glasgow and I wish we’d had a few meetings to warm up for that.
“It was a shame we went down. Same thing with Berwick. It’s a very hard track. To win races round there you’ve got to put everything out. It can be quite scary at times.
“It’s also a blow not having Josh in the team. He’s a spark in the pits. On track he’s one person you can count on for excitement.
“It’s good we’ve got Richie Worrall on Friday as a guest. If you need someone against Sam Masters, he’s the man.
“Bomber will put it all out on the table like he does every meeting. We are lucky to have these guys to fill in. Fingers crossed we can pull off something great.”
LINE UPS:
Oxford Cheetahs: Sam Masters, Cameron Heeps, Scott Nicholls, Jordan Jenkins, Lewis Kerr, Henry Atkins, Luke Killeen.
Edinburgh Monarchs: Chris Harris (G), Lasse Fredriksen, Kye Thomson, Paco Castagna, Craig Cook, Kyle Bickley, Jacob Hook.
Words by Holeshot Media.
Images by Taylor Lanning.