REACTION: PIRATES HOLD NERVE TO BREAK LEICESTER FORTRESS

Steve Worrall produced a match winning ride in heat 15 of the Pirates league meeting at Leicester on Saturday as Poole collected their first away league win of the season. 

The significance of the victory, against the defending league champions, was not lost on Poole promoter Dan Ford who stood nervously in the pits ahead of Worrall collecting his fourth win from five rides on the evening.  

"It was nervous because we have found ourselves in last heat deciders on the road too many times this year and had yet to seal the deal in our favour. But Steve produced a superb ride to power away from the traps then held firm under mounting pressure from Nick Morris who threw everything at him. There were a number of key moments in the meeting and whilst it was Steve who ensured we got over the line this time, all the riders made key contributions, not least our late addition James Wright who we booked to cover for Ben [Cook] at short notice after Ben was injured on Friday night." 

Amongst those key performances was a vital heat 14 victory for rising star Danyon Hume, who used all his track knowledge, gained from leading the Leicester Cubs to a National League title in 2019, to hold Ryan Douglas at bay. With Stefan Nielsen backing up in third place, the Pirates inched ahead by two points, after having twice been pegged back from slender leads throughout the meeting, in which they never found themselves behind. 

It meant that Worrall and skipper Danny King needed to just share the points in heat 15 but there were up against Hans Andersen and Nick Morris, a pairing that had levelled the meeting with a 4-2 over King and Rory Schlein in heat 13.  

With Morris having to go for broke to try and round Worrall, he ran just a little too wide on the last lap, lost control and  fell with the race proceeding into a Pirates 4-2 for their 47-43 victory and become the first visiting team since 27th August 2018 to win at the Paul Chapman & Sons Arena and the first SGB Championship side to inflict a league defeat in the second tier since 13th August 2013! 

LEICESTER - 43: H.Andersen 12 (3,3,3,1,2), K.Howarth 8+1 (2,3,1',2), R.Douglas 7+2 (1',2',2,2), D.Thompson 6+1 (2,1,2,1',0), N.Morris 6+1 (2,F,1',3,F), Z.Kennedy 3 (0,0,3,0), J.Thompson 1 (0,0,1) 

POOLE - 47: S.Worrall 14 (3,3,2,3,3), D.King 10+1 (3,1',3,2,1), J.Wright 7 (3,2,2,0,0), R.Schlein 6 (2,1,3,0), D.Hume 5 (1,1,0,3), S.Nielsen 4+2 (0,2',1',1), A.Bowtell 1+1 (1',0,0) 
 

MATCH REPORT HERE