REACTION: THE FEAR FACTOR ISN'T THERE ADMITS DAN FORD

Disappointed promoter Danny Ford insisted his Pirates class of 2019 must do better after slipping to a second successive defeat on home shale.

No1 Jack Holder’s poor start to the campaign continued, the Australian scoring 6+1 as the Pirates went down 53-37 to Swindon in the Supporters’ Cup, 24 hours after securing a hard-fought 45-45 draw in the same competition at the Abbey Stadium.

Ford admitted he had “concerns” over Holder’s start to the campaign, which has yielded scores of 6+2, 3+2, 11+1, 4+1 and 6+1.

He said: “Jack will be the first to admit that his start to the season hasn’t been as prolific as he would have liked.

“You need your number one to be scoring heavily and at the moment he is not doing that, which is a concern as it’s putting added pressure on the rest of the team.

“But I’m confident Jack will turn things around. He has huge support and, most importantly, believes in himself.

“One thing is for sure, though, we need to be much better at home and need to make Wimborne Road a place other teams fear coming to.

“At the moment that fear factor isn’t there and I think the riders are also lacking confidence at home, which needs to change if we are to achieve what we want to achieve this season.”

Full match report details here