PIRATES CUP FINAL FIRST LEG MOVED TO SUNDAY AT SCUNNY

Defeated Grand Final finalists Poole 'Wessex Marine' Pirates have got to put the disappointment of losing to Glasgow 85-95 on aggregate behind them as they go in search of the last piece of silverware for 2023.
 

Having already won the BSN title, the Pirates can still make it a double haul campaign if they can overcome the Scunthorpe Scorpions in the SGB Cab Direct Championship Knockout Cup Final.  The first leg was originally scheduled to be held at Scunthorpe on Friday,  but due to the heavy rain forecasted, the meeting has now been pushed back to Sunday 15th October with a 3pm start. So, there will be no superstitions in the Poole camp, determined as they are not to leave themselves too much to do in next Wednesday's concluding leg.

Local lad Kyle Newman has pledged to "put the anger and frustration the whole team felt after losing the league title into beating Scunthorpe in the cup" adding "we know it won't be easy, they made that clear when they came here in the league play-offs and we scraped the verdict with the super heat. But then we went to their place and against all the odds fought out a ten point victory. We need to do the same when we go there for the first leg". 

The whole team and management were  distraught on Wednesday night about not making it three league titles but the ethos in the Poole camp is not to allow themselves to dwell too long about it. There is another job to do, another piece of silverware to go for. It might not be the big one but it is a title nevertheless and also one that has been housed in the Poole trophy cabinet for the past two seasons. 

Scunthorpe have named a full one to seven whilst the Pirates will once again go into a final a man down as Anders Rowe is ruled out due to a virus he has contracted whilst recovering from the concussion injury he sustained at Scunthorpe in heat one of Poole's previous visit to North Lincolnshire.

Teams
Scunthorpe - 1 Ryan Douglas 2 Connor Mountain 3 Simon Lambert (Capt) 4 Jake Allen 5 Michael Palm-Toft 6 Nathan Ablitt 7 Drew Kemp Team manager Dave Peet
Poole - 1 Richard Lawson 2 Rider Replacement 3 Ben Cook 4 Zach Cook 5 Steve Worrall (Capt) 6 Kyle Newman 7 Joe Thompson Team manager Gary Havelock