REACTION: PROUD PIRATES DIG DEEP TO TAKE CONTROL OF PLAY OFF GROUP

From facing near certain elimination from the play-offs the Poole 'Wessex Marine' turned things on their head and put themselves in the driving seat of their group section despite being one-man down from heat one, when they lost Anders Rowe with a concussion injury at Scunthorpe on Friday.
 

After collecting a point at Wimborne Road in the corresponding fixture nine days previous and gaining a resounding home win over Edinburgh, the Scunthorpe Scorpions just needed a win over the Pirates to essentially book their place in the play-off final, but the resilient Pirates had other ideas and ran out convincing winners by ten points to maintain their unbeaten performances over the North Lincolnshire club this season after four encounters.

A jubilant Richard Lawson said afterwards "obviously we put ourselves in a difficult position coming into this meeting but we knew what the task in hand was and every single rider was so up for this, you know, we knew we could do it, we felt like we were the better team and it was so satisfying, especially after that heat one disaster when it was backs against the wall time. But, you know, it seems as though when the Pirates face those situations we find it from somewhere. It almost did feel like a final tonight. The pressure was on. We put that pressure on ourselves having that performance last Wednesday week but hey, we've redeemed ourselves and now we've got to finish it off home and away against Edinburgh"

In actual fact, just a win against Edinburgh, who the Pirates meet on Wednesday, will now be enough to see the Pirates qualify for the final and keep their home of the treble alive.

With northern team manager Gary Havelock on compassionate absence following the sudden death of his mother, Marjorie, promoter Dan Ford stepped into team manage, and maintained his unbeaten record, having now claimed his second victory as manager and described the night as 'unbelievable'. "The boys did so great tonight. Losing Anders in heat one was a massive blow, it really was and to be honest I was thinking to myself that we didn't just have a hill to climb now but a huge mountain and when Anders was excluded from the heat despite being the innocent party I just felt we were on the back foot. But the boys really dug deep tonight and the full six remaining members were absolutely sensational as a team. Normally with team performances like that I wouldn't pick a single rider out but I am going to make an exception tonight, as Joe (Thompson) was the big difference tonight. I thought the reserves made the difference for Scunthorpe in the first leg at Poole and tonight the true difference in the sides were the reserves. Joe, and Kyle as well, but Joe in particular was absolutely fantastic. He was very good out of the starts, he was aggressive and we got him really fired up. He is generally a quiet lad but I think he is really enjoying the environment with Poole and long may that continue."

Scorers
SCUNTHORPE 40 - Ryan Douglas 15 (3,2,2,3,3,2),Simon Lambert 6+1 (3,2,1',FD,0), Michael Palm-Toft 6 (3,3,XE,0), Jake Allen 5+1 (R,1',2,2), Drew Kemp 4+1 (2,R,1,1'), Connor Mountain 4 (1,0,3,0), Nathan Ablitt 0 (0,0,0,0,TS)   ,
POOLE 50 Steve Worrall 12+1 (2,3,3,1',3), Richard Lawson 11 (2,3,3,2,1), Zach Cook 8+2 (1',1',3,3), Joe Thompson 7+3 (3,1',0,1',2',0), Kyle Newman 5+1 (1,1,2,0,1'), ,Ben Cook 7 (2,2,1,2) ,Anders Rowe 0 (FD,NS,NS,NS)