REACTION: PIRATES HAVE SIGHTS ON THE DOUBLE AFTER THIER KO CUP SUCCESS

In his penultimate appearance at Wimborne Road, Rory Schlein banked a paid maximum as the Pirates finished the job they had started last Saturday to win the Knockout Cup as Poole claimed a 104-75 aggregate victory over the Edinburgh Monarchs, with a 57-33 home win in the second leg.

But immediately afterwards Schlein, who is retiring from the sport at the end of the season, only had eyes on the next two meetings coming up, the Grand Final. 

Nominated Rider of the Night, he said "It was good to get the job done tonight but I said to Danny (Ford) that this is just half of it and how much greater would it feel if we could turn Glasgow over and we could celebrate twice as much."

The last season the Pirates rode in second tier British speedway they were league and cup winners, back in 1990, and thirty-one years on they are now halfway to repeating that feat, as they do battle next week against the Glasgow Tigers for the league title.

Celebrating the Pirates' cup success, team manager Neil Middleditch paid tribute to the 2021 team he has managed claiming "the team spirit this bunch of lads generates is fantastic and that is very much part of the success. There are no prima donnas in this outfit, we are a team of seven rides and we ride as a team. We have strength in depth and it is a very good team we have here, you know, all of them have been a top scorer at some stage and that speaks volumes. I have managed a lot of different teams with the Pirates but let me tell you now, these lads are a real credit to the club. They have that winning mentality and go into every meeting hungry to win it. And here we are, Knockout Cup winners and halfway to the double."

It was fitting, because of his immaculate performance, that it was Schlein who got the team officially over the line, when he and Ben Basso paired up for a 5-1 in heat twelve to put the tie beyond the Monarchs, who had begun the meeting trimming two points off Poole's first leg advantage, when Sam Masters and Anders Rowe finished either side of Steve Worrall and Danyon Hume in heat one.

But to all intense and purposes that was just a blip as Poole steadily took control of the tie, putting together a sequence of 4-2 heat advantages of their own between heats three and seven. Whilst the Scottish side fired in a second heat advantage in heat eight with Drew Kemp coming in as a replacement and getting the better of Danyon Hume and Rowe holding out against Basso, their hopes of pulling off a shock result had virtually dissipated. More so when Schlein and Ben Cook partned for a 5-1 in heat nine and a follow up 4-2 from Steve Worrall and Hume in the tenth. Sam Masters gave Edinburgh their fourth race winner as he outpaced the previously unbeaten Danny King but a rejuvenated Basso, stormed to victory from gate four for his fifth point from four rides, to send the packed stadium rocking. Even after the early celebrations the Pirates refused to ease up, and recorded maximum heat scores in heats thirteen and fifteen, the intervening heat causing some alarm when guest Zaine Kennedy, Ben Cook and Drew Kemp all became embroiled in a horror-looking crash off the second turn. Thankfully, all three rides were able to walk away, although it was an unwanted birthday present for Cook who had to withdraw from the restart. Basso covered adequately, producing an excellent move to overcome Josh Pickering to win the heat as the lone Pirates, Kennedy having been disqualified as the cause.

Now it's on to the play-offs Grand Final with Middleditch looking for a second success in a final against Scottish operation which would bring him his 25th trophy as Poole team manager. Those play-off meetings were originally going to be ridden over the next two days, but due to the adverse weather they will now be staged on Tuesday 2nd November in Glasgow and on Thursday 4th November at Wimborne Road.

Scorers:
POOLE 57, S.Worrall 13+1 (2,3,3,2',3), D.Hume 4 (0,1,2,1), R.Schlein 12+3 (3,3,2',2',2'), B.Cook 5 (1,1,3,FN), D.King 11 (3,3,2,3), Z.Kennedy 4+1 (2,1,1',XD), B.Basso 8+1 (1',1,0,3,3)
EDINBURGH 33, S.Masters 10 (3,2,3,1,1), A.Rowe 2 (1,0,1,0), K.Thomsen 2 (0,2,R), J.Pickering 6 (2,0,2,2,0), R.Worrall 5 (2,2,1,0), D.Kemp 8+1 (3,0,3,0,1,1'), J.Edwards 0 (0,0,0)

Full match report and heat details can be found here