REACTION: PIRATES LEFT FRUSTRATED WITH CALL-OFF DECISION

The Pirates' camp was left furious and frustrated after their play off semi-final first leg play at Glasgow on Sunday was abandoned after just five heats had been completed.

Poole promoter Dan Ford said "As a unit our boys certainly wanted to continue racing, and we all felt that the match could well have gone the distance, had people been willing to give it some time. Unfortunately the referee made his decision after listening to the arguments on both sides, coming down firmly in favour of Glasgow's preference to call it a day. It is extremely frustrating and annoying for us and for the handful of fans who made the long journey North.
"However we must move on and focus on Wednesday night when the mission will be to build as big a lead as possible to bring back here once the re-staging date is agreed. Judging by the reaction of our boys after tonight's decision, they should be really fired up for what is now going to be the first leg. I hope our fans will back us in numbers. We should be in for a very special night."
The Pirates were trailing by four points, the result of a reserves heat maximum for the Tigers when rain started to fall after the track grade between heats four and five. The fifth heat went ahead with Ben Cook pushing his namesake Craig throughout and skipper Danny King battling by Broc Nicol, but the referee was called to the pits immediately afterwards.
After discussions with the two team captains and the clerk of the course some additional remedial work was called for. Heat six started but the Tigers' guest Paul Starke fell when drifting too wide around the third and fourth turns causing the race to be stopped and referee Wayne Jarvis making another long journey across the centre green and in to the pits, where after a lenghty consultation declared the meeting abandoned due to unsafe conditions.