Edinburgh Monarchs get their season kick-started with KO Cup win over Scunthorpe Scorpions

But the triumph has to be tempered by the fact that the Scorpions provided very poor opposition and didn’t place Monarchs under any pressure at all over the course of the meeting.

The Scorpions, who were defending an eight-point lead from the first leg, suffered a big blow before the meeting started when their captain Jason Garrity failed to arrive after his van broke down. He was replaced by Dale Devils racer Lewis Millar.

The Scorpions then lost No. 1 Josh Auty with a broken scaphoid after he crashed heavily on the second bend in heat five, this followed a spill in the first race when he was brought down by his team-mate Danny Ayres.

Scorpions team manager Dave Peet said: “It was like pushing water uphill. Everybody tried hard and worked hard and coming to Armadale is never easy at the best of times.

“But when you are without one of your heat leaders it is doubly hard.”

Peet added: “It was just one of these nights, especially after that first race when our two lads collided with each other, it was a bit of a disaster.

“Josh isn’t a rider who stays down and when he fell in his second ride we knew right away he was hurt.”

Monarchs team manager Alex Harkess said: “I was very happy with the result, although our victory was a lot easier than we could have hoped for, but they were short handed before the match started.

“We could not have asked for any more on the night and hopefully we have taken a big step forward now and we will see our performances improve.”

It was pretty much one-way traffic from the outset with Monarchs getting off to a 5-1 start from skipper Ricky Wells and the under fire Justin Sedgmen in the first race, which set the tone for the rest of the meeting with Monarchs adding nine more maximum advantages and scoring points for fun.

A sizeable wage bill will follow for Monarchs and with a very low crowd, their progression to the last four will come at a financial price.

The Scorpions did not manage one single heat win, the best they could muster was a trio of shared races.

Monarchs, who went through on aggregate (108-72), had the top scorer in the shape of Aussie ace Josh Pickering who collected 14 points from his five outings. His only defeat came at the hands of Scorpions star Danny Ayres in heat five, Ayres as tenacious as ever.

And Ayres netted a second win for Scorpions over Sedgmen in the eighth heat when he headed home the Monarch in fine style.

Jake Allen was the only other Scorpions race winner with victory over Monarchs pair Cameron Heeps and reserve 
William Lawson in the eleventh race.

But considering the weakness of their rivals, Lawson struggled at times to make an impact from the tail-end even although he won the reserves heat two clash against Ryan Kinsley and Josh Bailey.

Wells, who picked up 13 points from his five rides which included three race victories, was satisfied with how Monarchs rode, and said: “It was a good overall team performance and a bit of a confidence booster for us ahead of the Leicester match which will be tough.

“It was a pity about Scorpions being without Garrity, he is a good rider round Armadale and might have made things more difficult for us.

“But I was pleased with how we performed.”

Monarchs: Pickering 14, Wells 13, Heeps 9, Sedgmen 9, Andersson 8, Lawson 7, Ruddick 7.

Scunthorpe: Ayres 7, Allen 7, Kinsley 5, Nielsen 3, Auty 1, Millar 0, Bailey 0.