SAFE PIRATES KEEN TO FINISH WITH A WIN

The 'Volvo Cars' Poole Pirates are set to complete their league programme on Wednesday night in the knowledge that their season has been extended to the play-offs.

The home defeat inflicted by leaders King's Lynn on Monday night means Wolverhampton can no longer match the Pirates' current league tally of 41 points and so the Dorset side, along with current top two King's Lynn and Somerset will safely finish in the top four. That leaves Wolves presently four points shy of present fourth place incumbents Belle Vue, who host Somerset on Wednesday and travel to Swindon on Thursday. Mathematically, all three teams could finish on 38 points but the Wolves would need to beat Poole by more than 6 points to achieve that, but with such a much inferior race points differential would still miss out on the play-offs

They head for Wimborne Road with Nick Morris booked as guest cover for the injured Rory Schlein and Danny Ayres stepping in for injured reserve Nathan Greaves. The Pirates, who will be anxious to make up for their heavy defeat in Norfolk last time out, will be at full strength, but with new averages in operation, Kacper Woryna steps out of the reserve berth for the month with Richie Worrall moving down to join Frederik Jakobsen at the Pirates lower end. Pirate Nicolai Klindt is scheduled to guest for King's Lynn at Somerset on Tuesday night, due to the absence of the Stars' Niels-Kristian Iversen.

It is the Stars who look set to be the side that will have choice of semi-final opponents, the honour bestowed on the team that finishes top at the end of the regular league programme, with the play-off being structured with the first legs of the two semi-finals being ridden on separate weeks (17th and 24th September), the second legs being held on the same night (Monday 1st October) and the play-off final being battled out on the nights of Monday 8th and Wednesday 10th October.

Teams (from)
Poole: Josh Grajczonek, Chris Harris, Nicolai Klindt, Brady Kurtz, Kacper Woryna, Frederik Jakobsen & Richie Worrall - Team manager: Neil Middleditch
WOlverhampton: Jonas B Andersen, Kyle Howarth, Sam Masters, Nick Morris (Guest), Jacob Thorssell, Danny Ayres (Guest) & Ashley Morris - Team manager: Peter Adams