REACTION: ADVANTAGE PIRATES IN MONARCHS CUP FINAL

Poole boss Dan Ford is refusing to get too carried away despite watching his side build a very useful five-point advantage from the first leg of the KO Cup final against Edinburgh on Saturday.

Seeing the Pirates come out 47-42 winners, for their second win of the season at Armadale this term, Ford said "I am hugely proud of this team and with this performance today. We fought back immediately after getting a 5-0 against us in heat seven and then kept the pressure on Edinburgh so much so, that we were able to turn things round and get the victory. To win away from home with two riders not scoring all meeting and having a heat when we didn't produce a finisher, shows great resolve of character amongst the team. But, as that well-worn phrase goes, we are only at half-time, we still must finish the job and we can be sure that Edinburgh will be going into the second leg with absolutely nothing to lose. "

It was Ben Cook and guest Connor Bailey the two riders who failed to post a point on their accounts, but the remaining five riders all dug deep as the scores remained close throughout, each side countering each other. Nine of the heats ended as shared scores and Edinburgh immediately wrote off Poole's opening 4-2.
When neither Rory Schlein (disqualified) and Ben Cook (faller in the rerun) failed to score in heat seven the Monarchs could easily have begun to pull clear of the Pirates, but Danyon Hume and Ben Basso responded perfectly with a 5-1 in heat eight. It was Basso again playing his part in heat 12 when he and Schlein combined for the Pirates' second maximum and when Danny King and Steve Worrall finished either side of the previously unbeaten Richie Worrall in heat thirteen, it was the Pirates rather than the home side who made the headway as they built that precious five-point lead.

The two sides meet again on Wednesday night for the concluding leg, but not before the Pirates head back to Scotland on Tuesday for the first leg of the play-off Grand Final, against Glasgow.

Scorers:
EDINBURGH  42, S.Masters 10 (2,2,3,R,3), A.Rowe 1+1 (0,1',0), K.Thomson 5+2 (1',1',2,1), J.Pickering 7+1 (2,2,1',2), R.Worrall 11 (3,3,3,2,0), D.Kemp 7+2 (3,2',1,0,XD,1'), J.Edwards 1 (1,0,0)

POOLE 47, S.Worrall 9+2 (3,3,1',1,1'), D.Hume 5 (XE,0,3,2), R.Schlein 7+1 (3,XD,1',3), B.Cook 0 (0,F,0), D.King 13 (2,3,3,3,2), C.Bailey 0 (F,0,0), B.Basso 13+3 (1,2,1',2',2,2',3)