REACTION: PIRATES LOSE UNBEATEN LEAGUE RECORD TO TABLE TOPPING CHEETAHS

Something had to give as two unbeaten sides, that top the current league table, went head to head on Wednesday night when the Pirates travelled to Oxford.

Unfortunately, for the Pirates it was their unblemished record that fell by the wayside with the Cheetahs getting their claws into the meeting early on and not allowing Poole too many opportunities to hit back, with the home side's heat leaders all in good form. 

Suffering a 52-38 loss,  the Pirates saw the league leaders stretch their advantage at the top of the table to four points, with Dan Ford admitting  "we certainly didn't go there believing we would only have four race wins and converting just two of those into heat advantages but fair play to Oxford they were on song. All too often we were too static at the starts and when sides are in the sort of form that they [Oxford] currently are, then it becomes an uphill struggle. I guess that there aren't too many positives to take from our performance this evening, but there are still plenty of points to ride for and the league can't be won in June. We have still got the chance to outscore them in the league when they visit us in August and whilst we would have liked to have run them a bit closer, the aggregate point is not beyond us."
"We just have to put this one behind us now and focus on the next big task, which comes up at the end of next week when we travel to Glasgow in the first leg of the BSN final and make sure we put ourselves in a good position to lift that trophy."
Poole were forced into using an early tactical option, with Richard Lawson coming to the tapes to partner Steve Worrall in heat five in place of Anders Rowe, but the two Poole heat-leaders had no answers to Lewis Kerr and it took the Pirates nine heats before they could boast a race winner, Lawson picking up the first of his brace of victories. Zach Cook was the only other Pirate to taste the success of a race win, and he too put two three point entries on his night's report.
But with Kerr and Scott Nicholls dropping just a point each, Sam Masters and reserve Henry Atkins both hitting double figures, the strength in depth this time around showed more favourably in the home side than the Pirates.

OXFORD 52  Scott Nicholls 14 (3,3,3,2,3) ,Lewis Kerr 14 (3,3,3,2,3) ,Sam Masters 10+1 (3,3,2,0,2') ,Henry Atkins 9+1 (3,1,FD,RS,1,0,RS,2',2) ,Cameron Heeps 5+3 (1,2',0,1',1') ,Ryan Kinsley 0 (0,RS,0,RS,0,RS) 
POOLE 38  Richard Lawson 12+1 (2,2,1'EH,3,3,1) ,Zach Cook 7+1 (0,1',3,3) ,Steve Worrall 6+1 (2,1',2,1,0) ,Kyle Newman 6 (2,2,2,RS,0,0) ,Ben Cook 5 (1,2,1,1) ,Adam Roynon 1+1 (1',R,RS,0,RS) ,Anders Rowe 1+1 (0,TS,0,1')
 

Full heat details and match report