WOLVERHAMPTON 47 PIRATES 46

Poole Ready Power Pirates squandered their hopes of being level with league leaders Coventry after Wednesday night when they failed to maximise their advantage against struggling Wolves.

Looking for a potential 7 points over basement side Wolverhampton, Poole needed to win by 7 or more at Monmore Green but he Black Country side overturned a 12 point deficit to eventually win by just one point 47-46 after the Pirates had looked set to rack up a decent score.

But an 8-1 courtesy of Freddie Lindgren and Ricky Wells in heat 10 invigorated the home side and the Pirates failed to gain a heat advantage over the course of the final five heats, leaving boss Matt Ford seething.

"That can only be described as a dreadful performance and has really hampered our chances of claiming the top spot we so keenly want. I said before that I wouldn't be happy with just a consolation point and happy I am not. "
"It was unacceptable from certain quarters and some will have to take a long hard look at themselves. We did not see championship potential Pirates tonight and that is what I strive for. "
"It is easy to look at the scores and say 'if we hadn't conceded that 8-1 through the tactical' but the fact of the matter is that we did concede it and we didn’t bring out the arsenal to recover from it. We still held a lead even after that but surrendered it when we should have been building on it. That was certainly three points dropped tonight. Three very big points."

The Pirates began with two heat advantages to lead 8-4, the home side countering one of those when Lindgren headed home Janowski in the third. With Newman and Gomolski battling hard to share the fourth heat Poole were able to increase their advantage when Dave Watt made it two wins from as many rides and Paul Starke showed good spirit for his point. After Ricky Wells seized on a mistake by Chris Holder in heat 6, Dakota North raised his game to win the 7th and retain the 4 point advantage.

Watt and Starke doubled that with a splendid 5-1 and Gomolski and Newman followed suit in a re-started heat 9 after Thorssell had taken a heavy fall on the third lap.

But then came the vital 8-1 as Wells and Lindgren ousted Holder and the dynamics of the meeting changed. Only skipper Maciej Janowski could claim a race win in the final third of the match, achieving that feat in heats 11 and 15 but the Pirates had nothing to back it up.

WOLVERHAMPTON 47
P. Karlsson 0,1',1',3,1'=6+3
J. Thorssell 2,2,FD,2=6
R. Wells 1,3,2',3,2=11+1
T. Musielak 3,0,1,2'=6+1
F. Lindgren 3,2,6,1=12
A. Roynon 2,0,1,3=6
M. Clegg 0,0,0,0=0
POOLE 46
C. Holder 1,1',1,0,0=3+1
D. Watt 3,3,3,0=9
D. North 0,3,0,1=4
K. Gomolski 1',0,3,0=4+1
M. Janowski 2,2,3,2,3=12
P. Starke 3,1,2',1'=7+2
K. Newman 1,2,2',2=7+1

Ht 1 D. Watt J. Thorssell C. Holder P. Karlsson 2-4 (2-4) (54.65)
Ht 2 P. Starke A. Roynon K. Newman M. Clegg 2-4 (4-8) (55.03)
Ht 3 F. Lindgren M. Janowski R. Wells D. North 4-2 (8-10) (54.68)
Ht 4 T. Musielak K. Newman K. Gomolski M. Clegg 3-3 (11-13) (55.61)
Ht 5 D. Watt J. Thorssell P. Starke A. Roynon 2-4 (13-17) (55.57)
Ht 6 R. Wells M. Janowski C. Holder T. Musielak 3-3 (16-20) (55.34)
Ht 7 D. North F. Lindgren P. Karlsson K. Gomolski 3-3 (19-23) (55.79)
Ht 8 D. Watt P. Starke T. Musielak M. Clegg 1-5 (20-28) (55.85)
Ht 9 K. Gomolski K. Newman A. Roynon J. Thorssell (Fell d/q) 1-5 (21-33) (56.83)
Ht 10 F. Lindgren (TR) R. Wells C. Holder D. Watt 8-1 (29-34) (55.8)
Ht 11 M. Janowski J. Thorssell P. Karlsson D. North 3-3 (32-37) (55.93)
Ht 12 A. Roynon K. Newman P. Starke M. Clegg 3-3 (35-40) (57.46)
Ht 13 P. Karlsson M. Janowski F. Lindgren C. Holder 4-2 (39-42) (56.42)
Ht 14 R. Wells T. Musielak D. North K. Gomolski 5-1 (44-43) (56.95)
Ht 15 M. Janowski R. Wells P. Karlsson C. Holder 3-3 (47-46) (56.66)

Referee Graham Flint
Gates: Poole win toss and take gates 1&3. Wolverhampton 1&3 in heat 15

WOLVERHAMPTON 3 league point POOLE 1 league point