Preview: Ipswich v Poole

Co-promoter Danny Ford has backed his remaining 2019 No1 Carpet Cleaning Poole Pirates one-to-seven to keep pace with the Premiership front-runners in the face of injury adversity.

A catalogue of misfortune has seen Ford unable to track his full septet for the club’s past three Premiership meetings, with Richie Worrall, Brady Kurtz, Nikolaj Busk Jakobsen and Nico Covatti all ruled out at one stage or another.

However, aside from Monday’s heavy 57-33 defeat at King’s Lynn, the Pirates’ remaining riders and guests have performed miracles in securing wins over King’s Lynn at home and away at Belle Vue.

Those results have kept the Pirates in the play-off mix, but they go into tomorrow’s trip to high-flying Ipswich again with only three fit regulars in Nicolai Klindt, Josh Grajczonek and Jack Holder.

Ford, who expects Covatti and Kurtz to return to action next week, said: “These away trips are hard enough even with your full one-to-seven so that makes the win at Belle Vue even more special as it was done with barely half a team.

“The defeat against King’s Lynn on Monday was not completely unexpected as you can only do so much without four riders and I’m expecting another tough battle against Ipswich tomorrow.

“But with the riders we do have, we’ll always be confident and I’m confident we can maintain our place at the right end of the table until we start seeing some of the boys return to fitness.”

The Pirates will operate rider replacement for number one Kurtz, with Kyle Newman stepping in for Worrall, Kevin Doolan for Covatti and Ricky Wells for Busk Jakobsen.

Witches: Chris Harris, Cameron Heeps, Danny King, Kristian Pieszczek, Richard Lawson, Edward Kennett, Jake Allen.

Pirates: Rider Replacement for Brady Kurtz, Kyle Newman (guest), Nicolai Klindt, Josh Grajczonek, Jack Holder, Kevin Doolan (guest), Ricky Wells (guest).

Picture: Taylor Lanning