"FOUR-SOME" PERFORMANCE AGAINST THE MONARCHS

Northern team manager Gary Havelock was a happy man after seeing his Poole side collect four valuable league points in Scotland on Friday evening, with a 50-40 victory against the Edinburgh Monarchs at Armadale.

"I am delighted with that result, it is a huge four points we have lifted tonight. It was a phenomenal effort by the lads especially when you consider that the two Bens (Cook and Basso) and Danyon (Hume) haven't ridden the place before. They all adjusted well and Danyon in particular was simply superb. I can say, without any doubt, that tonight was the best night I have had managing Poole Pirates. I have been absolutely loving the job standing in on the northern circuits for Middlo. There will always be a very special place in my heart for Poole Speedway and I am so pleased we got the full set of points tonight."

There would have been some raised eyebrows in the Poole camp as they once again started strongly and held a six point lead after as many races, but three heats later the Monarchs had squared up the meeting. There were plenty of nerves around as the Pirates weak spot this season has been not closing out meetings too well. 

But Havvy had his charges well fired up this time around and a hat-trick of 4-2 advantages re-established that earlier advantage and with Danyon Hume and Stefan Nielsen collecting a penultimate heat maximum, that fourth league point for an away win by more than six race points became a distinct likely outcome.
Monarchs' number one Sam Masters who scored close on half the home side's total, finished the night the way he had started it with a win over Rory Schlein but Master's partner, Kye Thomson found the going too tough against Schlein and Steve Worrall to make any impact on the final distribution of the league points.

Hume's praise from Havvy was fully justified as he claimed three race wins, two of which were converted into Poole maximum heat scores and he added two well earned third places in his other two outings. 

Poole's victory takes them a point further clear of Redcar who, for the second week running, made a late recovery to claim a home win, beating Scunthorpe 47-42, but Poole still hold a match in hand over the Bears with both clubs riding again on Sunday, Redcar entertaining Berwick who suffered a heavy defeat at Glasgow in Friday's other meeting, whilst the Pirates face the tough prospect of Birmingham who have plenty of meetings in hand over all their Championship rivals.

Scorers: 
EDINBURGH 40, S.Masters 19 (3,2,3,3,2,3,3), W.Lawson 2 (R,0,2,0,0), K.Thomson 9+2 (1',1',3,2,2,0), J.Pickering 8+2 (2,2,2',2',F), D.Kemp 0 (0,0,0), N.Greaves 2 (1,0,0,1), L.Millar (number eight, did not ride)
POOLE 50, R.Schlein 9+1 (2,3,1,1',2), B.Basso 5+1 (1',0,1,3), S.Worrall 11+1 (3,1,3,3,1'), S.Nielsen 2+1 (0,0,2'), D.King 7+1 (3,1',1,2), B.Cook 5+1 (2',2,0,1), D.Hume 11 (3,1,3,1,3)

Match report Here