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If Birmingham had any tactical nous, they only should have made the swap on the agreement that Edwards would regain his place when fit. Just be honest with Hagon from the start "you have a temporary team spot". I'm sure Hagon wouldn't have turned that down - he had no other Premiership options. Can't believe how inept the team planning has been!

But Birmingham look weaker than they did earlier in the season, so Ipswich shouldn't have to be as good to score 60? Brummies won't have a reserve like Lynn did to cause trouble.

Another way to look at it, Starke beat Harrison, which Cairns couldn't do in heat 2. Starke then had a second place behind Steve Worrall. Starke then had the struggling Declan Kennedy taken out of a heat & lost to Zaine & Mountain. Starke then faced Mountain & tac sub Worrall! Who should Starke have beaten that he didn't? Worrall or Mountain (who Cairns didn't meet)? You wouldn't expect a 4 point away reserve to beat a 5 point home reserve (Zaine)! Now Cairns obviously came on string as the match went on, beating Zaine twice, which is brilliant for a 2 pointer, I take nothing away from him. But you can't deny Starke had harder rides & scored the same. That's not saying Cairns should have done better, just that Starke is being harshly judged imo.

Should be 60+ to Ipswich.

If you look at away points gained minus home points dropped, Berwick are joint third along with Edinburgh & Redcar. Even if they only win home matches, still in with a chance. If they start picking up some bonus points & they're certainly contenders.

Then they shouldn't have announced it was a mutual decision. They did exactly that, so it's fair to ridicule their team building!

First thought when I saw the scores, brilliant decision to retain Hagon over Edwards. Even Sudden Sam wouldn't have done that lol!

Hard to know how good JJ will be, but credit to Berwick for making a signing. Even if he drops a point off his assessed average still strengthens the team. Certainly play-off challengers.

Even bigger gap if you look at their Champ aves.

That was just an example. If Flint is one of the top 3 Brits then obviously use him, it's not like I'm suggesting GB not put their best team out. Not that this was their best 3 anyway.

If the plan all along was for Flint to be a non-riding reserve, should they just have taken someone else who didn't have a British league match that weekend? Drew Kemp for example? No offence to Flint, but he's not going to be the difference between GB winning & losing. Plus how much "experience" can he gain just by taking part in practice (if they had one). Of course if the plan was to share out the rides, but Flint was clearly slowest in practice, more understandable.

Seems a terrible attitude to have, does that mean you don't mind riders risking injury as long as they're not heat leaders?

Then of I was Birmingham I wouldn't say it was a mutual decision, just say "we're disappointed Jason doesn't want to return". At least that way, they're letting the fans know they aren't trying to weaken the team.

The old Elite League fast track format was like that. I thought it was a really good format, heat leaders meet more often, reserves meet more often, should mean closer racing, which is beneficial to the fans & help develop the riders too.

Berwick are unbeaten at home. Like you say, good replacement for Hume & they're in with a good chance.

Top 2 Poole Glasgow Fighting for 3rd / 4th place Redcar Edinburgh Berwick Oxford Workington Fighting to avoid wooden spoon Scunthorpe Plymouth

Especially when Edwards didn't want to return to Birmingham as a number 6! Now he's guesting against them as one.

Brilliant move. Ipswich have built their team so brilliantly & now even their second choice RS is a strong rider, something other clubs couldn't manage. Really should be favourites for everything. Even after the aggregate loss to Lynn, still think Ipswich look the strongest team on paper. But they'll need to do it on the track over the final 4 matches.

Yeah, nothing wrong what that move at all.

I can't believe Birmingham didn't bring back Edwards as their RS. Do they even want to avoid the wooden spoon? Nothing against Hagon he's done a fair job, but he's not as good as Edwards, it should be as simple as that. Now I know people will say "maybe Edwards didn't want to come back" but Birmingham announced it as a mutual decision.

Workington certainly looking good at home. Can they do enough away to pick up the deducted points they lost?

I think some people are greatly overlooking Redcar because they're missing Riss. Now of course they are weakened without him. But even counting Wright, King & Edwards as heat leaders, only Glasgow & Poole have a stronger heat leader trio! After tonight feel Scunthorpe & Plymouth are out of the play-offs hunt, but still all to play for with 5 clubs going for the last 2 spots.

On paper the Scunny team looks decent. 2 x 5 point reserves, the Kennedy's & Harrison putting points on their averages. If they want to go with stronger heat leaders, will suffer at 6 & 7. Then who will they sign? Redcar can't find a replacement for Riss, Berwick have 7+ available to replace Hume but haven't got anyone. Until Nicholls made his return, Champ sides could only bring in second strings & reserves. Apart from MPT & it seemed most Scunny fans were happy to see him go (from what I can remember).

I agree there's a risk, but Redcar's reserves will only get 9 rides between them, using r/r they'd get 10 or 11 (depending if Mulford took a r/r outing before dropping out). While I'd recommend taking a number 8, Redcar wouldn't have needed to use him.

Poole & Glasgow look certain for a top 4 spot, after that the last 2 spots are very open. Wouldn't rule anyone out.