King's Lynn 47, Edinburgh 41 (Edinburgh won 97-83 on agg)KING'S Lynn chief Buster Chapman is confident World U21 champion Darcy Ward will be fit for the club's Premier League KO Cup final revenge mission against Edinburgh.

King's Lynn 47, Edinburgh 41 (Edinburgh won 97-83 on agg)

KING'S Lynn chief Buster Chapman is confident World U21 champion Darcy Ward will be fit for the club's Premier League KO Cup final revenge mission against Edinburgh.

Ward was forced to watch the Stars crash out of the Premier League play-offs at the Norfolk Arena - but Lynn's heat leader is targeting a return for Friday's Armadale first leg cup tie.

The Aussie teenager also missed Lynn's heavy play-off defeat north of the border last week after aggravating a back injury in an U25 Ashes Test match at Ipswich.

Chapman confirmed Ward visited a specialist yesterday in a bid to make the double winners' grand slam finale against the Monarchs.

“He has seen a back consultant and hopefully we can have him at Edinburgh,” said Chapman. “If we pick the right guests then we can have a proper go at them. Should Darcy be fit enough to return to racing in Poland on Thursday with his club Torun in their play-offs then he will fly directly to Edinburgh on Friday morning to help us in the first leg of the KO Cup.

“The treble is what we want. That is the most important thing for us and we aim to go out all guns blazing. Losing Darcy and Tomas (Topinka) and Kozza (Smith) to injuries has been hard but what we've achieved so far is phenomenal.”

Chapman also scotched rumours of a conspiracy theory surrounding Ward's untimely injury absence from Lynn's play-off push. Chapman revealed the Aussie flew to Poland on the eve of Lynn's Edinburgh play-off trip for medical treatment.

“It seems that everyone has had a theory about Darcy not riding for us at Edinburgh,” said Chapman. “I can assure you his back injury is genuine and that is why he is not riding but here supporting his team mates in the pits. Darcy is young and maybe a little na�ve but nothing more than that.

“He flew over to Poland on Friday afternoon for treatment from a specialist at his Polish club. He was spotted on television the following day giving Jason Crump the bumps after he had won the world title.

“That to me doesn't mean he does not have a bad back. It says to me he was a lad who got excited and caught up in the moment.

“A bit like Kozza racing around with a broken foot even though he knows it is a bad one.”

Rob Lyon's depleted squad never looked capable of overhauling Edinburgh's 20-point first leg advantage last night as the Monarchs cruised to a play-off decider against Belle Vue.

Lynn stand-in skipper Chris Schramm's heat 14 flag did, however, preserve the Stars' proud unbeaten home record.

Stars: Ostergaard 9+2, Sanchez 6+3, Schramm 11+1, Proctor 6, Eklof 7+3, Graversen 8.

Monarchs: Fisher 8, Rajkowski 0, Tully 6, Wethers 3+1, Wolbert 12, Summers 3, Katajisto 9+1.