James Sarjeant has vowed to repay the faith shown by Glasgow's fans and owners after their first match of the season was cut short.

Heavy rain had made things extremely difficult for riders early on in the Tigers' season opener against Edinburgh Monarchs in the Spring Trophy.

Things brightened up after half-time as the sides got into some tasty battles to kick-start Glasgow's new era under owners Gerry and Michael Facenna, of Allied Vehicles.

However, another sharp downpour after heat 11 put paid to efforts to complete the match at the Peugeot Ashfield Stadium and it was abandoned.

Despite that, a bumper crowd went home happy with the win and the brand new facilities on offer.

Tigers reserve Sarjeant, 21, is in his first season at this level and was named the most entertaining rider of the day after a couple of close battles with the visitors, although his day had got off to a bad start with bike problems and a crash affecting his first two rides.

He went on to score three (paid four) and said afterwards: "In my first heat the coil went on my bike while I was on a 5-1 and I broke down.

"In the second race I think I expected too much - I tried coming in too hard, hit a rut and went down.

"And then I managed to sort it out a little bit. I was still a little bit all over the shop in the last two but I felt a lot better and it's good to get some laps in.

"If I didn't break down I would've been on paid six but you can't think like that. I'm just looking forward to the next meeting. I don't want to let the fans down."

Sarjeant shook off the attentions of impressive Monarchs reserve Max Clegg in his final race - heat nine - to give the Tigers an important 3-3 and ensure the visitors didn't gain any ground at that stage.

He added: "The bike was pulling in dirt and wheeling up. Max tried to come on the outside of me and I just tried to cut him off.

"The stadium is amazing now. It's what every track needs, a makeover. What they've done here is brilliant and I just want to pay them back by scoring some points."

There were plenty of positives for the Tigers as their top three men failed to finish outside the top two in their respective races, racking up five wins among them, while Swedish reserve Victor Palovaara showed well in his heat two win from the tapes.

Returning hero Nick Morris was named man of the match for his eight-point haul, including a good win over league No 1 Craig Cook, while the Tigers' new No 1 Richard Lawson also flew from the tapes to beat Cook in heat one, and he stamped his authority again with a victory over former Tiger Kevin Wolbert in heat 10.

The Tigers travel to Armadale on Friday for the return leg before a visit to Berwick in the League Cup on Saturday.

Tigers scorers: Richard Lawson 8, Nick Morris 8, Aaron Summers 7, Victor Palovaara 5, James Sarjeant 3 Dimitri Berge 3, Kozza Smith 2.