PIRATES HOPING FOR NO MORE RAIN OVER THE MONARCHS

Poole will be hoping it is second time lucky on Friday (27th August) as they seek to fulfil their SGB Championship league visit to Armadale, a venue that no Poole team has previously ridden at. 

The first attempt, at the beginning of the month, fell victim to an early morning wash-out, but with the British Isles looking forward to a bright Bank Holiday weekend the Pirates will be keen to push on from their position at the top of the league table. Already, their  advantage over Redcar is set to be trimmed by a point once the table has been adjusted following the annulment of any fixtures ridden against Eastbourne, whilst the Monarchs will lose the three points they gained for their win at Arlington in June. 

The Pirates will be mindful that Edinburgh were held to a draw by Kent last Friday night,  whilst Plymouth picked up an away point the previous week coming on the heels of the Monarchs witnessing arch-rivals  Glasgow journey back along the M8 with the league bounty after a tense battle in their home league fixture before that. 

Poole boss Danny Ford said "we will be going there on Friday looking to consolidate our position at the top of the table. Nothing changes from when we were originally due to go there except that we will be at full strength this time around. As I have said previously, we must ensure that we keep the pressure on throughout the meetings. We have been left wanting in that quarter this season, especially away from home and teams have taken advantage of that fault." 

Whilst Poole will be fielding their full one to seven, the Monarchs have booked Drew Kemp to replace the injured Luke Crang at reserve and Nick Morris to cover for former Pirate Richie Worrall who is still feeling the effects of a damaged hand that he sustained a fortnight ago." 
His absence will deny brother Steve the chance to redress the balance after he lost out on both occasions the brothers met at Wimborne Road in the corresponding fixture. 

Teams 

Edinburgh - Sam Masters; William Lawson; Kye Thomson; Josh Pickering; Nick Morris (guest);  Drew Kemp (guest) ; Nathan Greaves; Team manager Alex Harkess 

Poole - Rory Schlein; Benjamin Basso; Steve Worrall; Stefan Nielsen; Danny King; Ben Cook; Danyon Hume; Team manager Gary Havelock