LAKESIDE v POOLE PREVIEW

Having claimed their 1,150th all-time league win on Wednesday night with a 57-33 Wimborne Road triumph over Lakeside, the Pirates travel to Essex on Friday for what promises to be a stern test.

Poole teams have gone unbeaten in their last 14 performances in all competitions, dating back to a 39-53 loss against Belle Vue on August 3rd last season,  but that winning sequence certainly looks under threat on Friday, despite heading for a venue where they have not lost in their last three visits.

For whilst there was a 24 point delta between the same two sides on Wednesday night the score-line somewhat failed to serve justice to the closeness of the meeting.

It was a powerful last 5 heats that saw the Pirates run away with the fixture as they discovered the best set-ups for the track conditions late in the day. But the Hammers appeared to have the better reactions at the tapes for large parts of the affair and with their home base having the reputation of being a specialist circuit, gating abilities will be very much to the fore when the sides meet up again.

The Pirates have two former Lakeside riders in their unchanged team, skipper Dave Watt and reserve Adam Ellis. Whilst Watt has still to show his best form this season, Ellis has settled seamlessly into the Pirates side and will be making his second successive Friday appearance at Lakeside, having guested for Leicester last week.
He notched paid 12 that night but claimed, with a smile on his face, "that was only a practice session, wait for Friday when I am there with the Pirates and can score some decent points."

Poole boss Matt Ford was well satisfied with the Pirates performance to bank their second league win of the season but warned "things are going to be different for us on Friday. We need to be a bit sharper from the gate as we can ill-afford to concede too much advantage to them at the starts up there. I am sure Adam will want to put in another good showing and it would be a great time for Davey to really get going. He knows the place better than most."

Lakeside have won both their home fixtures this season  with a 56-36 win over King's Lynn and a 56-34 victory against Leicester.

Teams from
Lakeside Hammers: Lewis Bridger, Andreas Jonsson (capt), Richard Lawson, Kim Nilsson, Piotr Swiderski, Lewis Kerr, Robert Mear - Team Manager Kelvin Tatum
Poole Pirates - Hans Andersen , Krzyszotf Buczkowski, Chris Holder, Brady Kurtz, Dave Watt (capt), Adam Ellis, Kyle Newman - Team Manager Neil Middleditch