PREVIEW: EDINBURGH v BIRMINGHAM (KOC)

EDINBURGH host Birmingham for the second week running as the sides contest the first leg of their KO Cup quarter-final tonight (Friday).

The league match seven days ago ended in a dramatic 45-45 draw although there are team changes to both sides on this occasion.

Monarchs are boosted by the return from injury of Richie Worrall, but have two guests at reserve in Kyle Bickley and Danny Phillips, replacing the retired Nathan Greaves and Drew Kemp who is racing for GB in the World Under-21 Team Final at Bydgoszcz.

The Brummies again use rider-replacement for Valentin Grobauer whilst Jason Edwards and Luke Crang stand in for regular reserves Paco Castagna (Italian Championship) and Jack Thomas (unavailable).

Edinburgh boss Alex Harkess said: “Tonight it is certainly the aim to get a good lead to make the second leg easier.

“The unfortunate thing is that Drew will not be riding due to the Under-21 Team Championship. What a difference he would make if he was here.”

Brummies manager Laurence Rogers said: “As a team we have to put Wednesday behind us now and focus on the next couple of weeks.

“We’ve got some huge meetings coming up starting with the Knockout Cup trip to Edinburgh.

“We’re going there for the win but as long as we keep it relatively tight ahead of the second leg at the end of the month at Perry Barr then we’ll be happy enough.”

EDINBURGH: Sam Masters, Anders Rowe, Kye Thomson, Josh Pickering, Richie Worrall, Danny Phillips, Kyle Bickley.
BIRMINGHAM: Chris Harris, Valentin Grobauer R/R, James Shanes, Ashley Morris, Erik Riss, Luke Crang, Jason Edwards