RESULT: EASTBOURNE 45 POOLE 44

"Absolutely gutted" was how Dan Ford felt after watching his Poole side have victory snatched from them in a last heat decider on Saturday night in Sussex.

Having led the meeting from the off the Poole Pirates held a three point lead as the previously unbeaten Steve Worrall was joined by captain Danny King as the nominated riders to defend that lead. But Richard Lawson and skipper Lewis Kerr were the Eagles' choice and sent the Eastbourne contingent of a full house crowd home the happiest, as they combined for the one score the Poole camp were hoping to avoid.

Ford added "it is always extra tough to lose when you have been in front all meeting and we are all feeling the disappointment that we did not get the three points. But Eastbourne is a tough place to come to and leaving with a point is in itself a massive achievement. So I just want to say well done to the lads. Not many would have had us down for that I guess, but losing at the final hurdle still hurts. 

"I think we saw the potential in this side tonight. It was difficult for the new young Aussie lads, to get to grips and get things going, but like I said this is not the easiest place to come to. Stevie (Worrall) was just sensational. Four great programmed rides but he just couldn't make it work for him in the final heat"

The Pirates opened their long awaited return to the Championship with a 5-0 in heat one and were able to build on that advantage when Danny King and Danyon Hume fired in a heat four maximum. Although the home side nibbled away at the deficit across the next two heats to trail by just one point, the Pirates pushed on again when Steve Worrall and Stefan Nielsen triumphed over Jason Edwards and Richard Lawson.

Poole were able to find just one more heat advantage over the closing eight heats of the keenly fought contest, but were relieved to see young Ben Cook walk away from a spectacular heat 12 spill. Steve Worrall completed his programmed rides by winning the re-run to start a sequence of three shared heats, leaving the scores, ahead of the nominated heat, at 43-40 in favour of the Pirates. 

If they could find a maximum to close out the meeting then it would have been a perfect four point league haul . If they were to concede one it would be a heartbreak defeat.

Any other outcome would see them open their league account with three league points.
With the Eagles having won the coin toss at the start of the meeting, Lewis Kerr's decision to have choice of starting positions proved a shrewd one and whilst Worrall worked as hard as he could to try and reel in the fast starting Eagles pair in that concluding heat, the home pairing completed the snatch and grab to run out 45-44 winners on the night.

EASTBOURNE  - 45: L.Kerr 12+1 (2,3,2,3,2'), R.Lawson 10 (1,0,3,3,3), T.Brennan 6 (R,3,3,0), J.Edwards 5 (3,1,1,0), K.Newman  5+2 (1',1,1',2), E.Kennett 4+1 (F,2',2,0), D.Kemp 3+1 (1,0,1,1')
POOLE - 44: S.Worrall 13 (3,3,3,3,1), D.King 9 (3,1,3,2,0), R.Schlein 8+1 (3,2,2,1'), D.Hume 5+2 (0,2',2,1'), S.Nielsen 5+1 (0,2',1,2), B.Cook 2 (2,0,0,FD), Z.Keleher 2+1 (2',0,0,0)  
League Points EASTBOURNE  3 POOLE 1

Full Heat details and match report here