Previewing: BSN Final Second Leg - Glasgow v Poole 21st July 2023

In touching distance of their first trophy of the season, the 'Wessex Marine' Pirates are being urged by Poole promoter Dan Ford to go and 'finish the job' when they visit Glasgow on Friday (21st July).
 

Ford was incensed by the immediate first-leg reaction by the Scottish side when they complained about track conditions at Wimborne Road and admits "I was disappointed hearing comments from the Glasgow management following their heavy defeat in the first leg. Glasgow are a promotion that I have the utmost respect for but I think on that occasion they were simply looking for excuses trying to justify a heavy defeat. Berwick came to ours just a week later and Rory Schlein, one highly  respected rider in the UK, a former British champion of course, commented how good the track was and how raceable it was.
"Put simply, our boys liked it, theirs didn’t. Hopefully going in to the second leg they will be up for it a little bit more. Fingers crossed Glasgow will make a match of it, they have certainly riled us up with their comments. Just as always we will be ready for the fight and we will be looking to take the win, not just on aggregate, but on the night as well."

Whilst Poole have named an unchanged line-up from the first leg, the Tigers have instigated a positional change with Ben Basso reverting to number three and captain Tom Brennan moving to five. As well as being a trophy-seeking mission for the Pirates, there will also be a chance of some familiarisation of the Ashfield circuit for the Pirates in preparation for their league visit nine days later.

One Pirate who has had recent experiences of the Glasgow track is Anders Rowe and no doubt, Poole fans will be hoping that he can put in a similar performance as he did in the recent British U21 final at the venue, when he went unbeaten from his five programmed rides and just lost out on being champion when Connor Bailey beat him in the winner-take-all final.

Teams: Glasgow 1 Chris Harris 2 Marcin Nowak 3 Benjamin Basso  4 Claus Vissing 5 Tom Brennan (Capt)   6 Lee Complin 7 Ace Pijper Team manager Cami Brown
Poole - 1 Richard Lawson 2 Anders Rowe 3 Ben Cook 4 Zach Cook 5 Steve Worrall (Capt) 6 Kyle Newman 7 Adam Roynon Team manager Gary Havelock
 

Photo Ian Adam