The Poole Castle Cover Pirates showed some great form to beat Coventry 56 – 36 and open an impressive 20 point lead in the first leg of this BSPA Knockout Cup semi final replay.
Prior to the start of the match Pirates team manager Neil Middleditch had admitted that he would be happy to take a ten point lead into the second leg but he was even happier when his side came up trumps to build such a lead.
“ This really was a good all round team performance” he said “ I know I have said it before but to beat Coventry like this takes some doing. Every one rode their hearts out for the side in this match and picked up points wherever they could.”
“ Having said that, we cannot take anything for granted and the second leg at Coventry could be a completely different match. They pulled back a 24 point deficit earlier this year to knock us out of the Craven Shield, and they will be trying as hard to repeat that result when we go there for the second leg.”
Pirates came out guns a-blazing, opening the match with a 5-1 from which they never looked back. 14 points up after six races, Poole were already in cruise mode and refused to let their grip on the match slacken.
Heat 10 could have proved a turning point for the visitors when Pirates Magnus Zetterstrom fell heavily after colliding with Bees skipper Chris Harris and looked to be in some discomfort. However, after receiving medical treatment on the track, he gingerly made his way back to pits to prepare himself for the re-start. In this Zetterstrom made a great start to lead the race, before team mate Holder sliced his way past and into the lead. Harris was able to see off Zetterstrom but the chase on Holder was lost and the Pirates fans started dreaming of a big margin to take with them for the second leg.
Coventry stemmed the tide with a succession of three shared heats and then threw their hopes into the pot by using the tactical substitute option in Heat 14 with Chris Harris on the 15 metre handicap. Poole countered by bringing in Daniel Davidsson in place of Freddie Eriksson which proved inspirational as Davidsson and team mate Skornicki both gated well to fend off Harris and Janniro and open up a 20 point lead.
For a moment in the final heat it looked as though even that would be extended as Pedersen led Andersen but the Poole skipper couldn't quite hold off the Bees' star and so the meeting closed with the Pirates in the driving seat, but mindful of the fact that earlier this season they allowed a 24 point advantage to slip through their grasp in the Craven Shield when they visited the home of the Bees
