COOK-KING UP A TITLE TRIAL?

Considered by many to be the two clubs that will contest the Grand Final play-offs, Friday's visit of Glasgow to Wimborne Road could be a dress rehearsal for the league title decider.

The Tigers currently occupy third place in the table but have their sights firmly set in overhauling Redcar at the very least to guarantee inclusion in the semi-finals and Friday begins a crucial run of three meetings in as many days for the Scottish side, as they follow up the visit to the Pirates with an equally tough trip to Leicester on Saturday before returning to Ashfield to entertain Scunthorpe, the side that sits directly below them in the table.

But it will be Friday's encounter with the Pirates that will receive their immediate focus and it is a fixture that the Pirates are relishing themselves. Glasgow are the only team that the Pirates have failed to take at least a point off this season, so as well as protecting their 100% home record, a Poole victory would not only rectify that point-less statistic but also consolidate their own position at the top of the table.

So the stage is set for arguably the toughest meeting of the season and it is one that promoter Dan Ford is relishing. "This is such an important meeting for both teams and it might not be the one and only time we have to face Glasgow here this season, so there is the psychological factor about it too.

"We have invested a considerable amount of time and effort in ensuring that our recent track frustrations are resolved so that the stars on show on Friday, that include Danny the 'King of Poole' against Craig 'The King of Ashfield' Cook, can really put on the show that we all know they are capable of.

"When you looked at the teams at the start of the season it was evident that Glasgow were the ones that you had to beat and it was unfortunate that we didn't have a true contest against them at their place earlier in the season once we lost Rory [Schlein] in the opening heat. That said though I believe we have developed into an even stronger side since then, whilst they have recently made some changes to underline their intent. "

One of those changes was essentially thrust upon the Tigers once their newly established number one, Ulrich Ostergaard, suffered a lower back injury in a highly charged Scottish derby at Edinburgh in July. Whilst the Tigers didn't immediately panic themselves into finding a replacement, once Tom Brennan became available from Eastbourne they moved quickly to snap up the  British U21 champion, who had impressed during the Ashfield-staged Grand Prix qualifier. They followed that move with the weekend acquisition of 26 year old Pole Marcin Nowak ahead of the transfer deadline,  although the necessary clearance papers will not be in place in time for him to ride on Friday.

Whilst the Pirates welcome back Ben Basso after he missed Wednesday's trip to Birmingham due to his involvement in securing Team Fjelsted's place in the Danish play-off semi-finals and hopefully he will be able to play his part in ensuring the Pirates make the English equivalents at the very least, although they will have to do so without the services of Stefan Nielsen after his crash at Birmingham, from which everyone at Poole wishes him a speedway recovery.

Teams:

Poole: Rory Schlein; Ben Basso; Steve Worrall; Ben Cook; Danny King; Dillon Ruml; Danyon Hume - Team manager Neil Middleditch

Glasgow: Craig Cook; Broc Nicol; Tom Brennan; Sam Jensen; Ricky Wells; Guest to be Confirmed; Connor Bailey