Depleted Pirates 'hit hard' by loss of Danish stars, admits Ford

Danny Ford watched his depleted No1 Carpet Cleaning Poole Pirates septet give Peterborough a scare – but admitted the loss of his Danish contingent had “hit us hard”.

The Pirates eventually succumbed 47-43 to the Panthers at Wimborne Road having mounted another stirring comeback from 10 points down at heat eight to take the Premiership clash to a last-heat decider.

But despite captain Josh Grajczonek and Nico Covatti’s heat 14 5-1 taking the Pirates to within two points of the visitors, it was a bridge too far for Ford’s men who saw Hans Andersen and Scott Nicholls run in a final heat 4-2 for victory.

The home side, though, were without injured Brady Kurtz, as well as Danish pair Nicolai Klindt and Nikolaj Busk Jakobsen, both of whom were racing in their national final.

Ford said: “With a full strength side, I think we would have won convincingly.

“Being without Nicolai and Nikolaj really hit us hard and when you take Brady out of the mix too, with the form he has been in, it was always going to be an uphill struggle against an improved Peterborough side.

“When you look at the scoring, they were consistent right through the team whereas 28 of our 43 points came from two riders in Jack Holder and Josh Grajczonek.

“But that is one big positive I take from the result – Jack and Josh are really flying at the moment and once we’ve got our usual seven back racing, I’m confident we’ll start putting a run of results together.”

Richie Worrall banked paid seven for the Pirates on the night, while guests Adam Ellis (3) and Paul Starke (3+1) contributed six points alongside Covatti (3+2).

Read the full meeting report here.

Picture: Dave Fairbrother.