Preview: Oxford v Poole KO Cup Semi Final 1st Leg

Poole 'Wessex Marine' Pirates face thirty heats of gruelling speedway against the Oxford Monarch Cheetahs this week as they look to reach the final of yet another SGB Cab Direct Championship competition.
 

Already in the final of the BSN Series, the Pirates have a proud Knockout Cup record, the last time they lost a tie was in the quarter finals of the 2018 Premiership cup when they were beaten 99-81 on aggregate by Somerset. Since then they have only lost two cup matches in fourteen, both at Leicester (41-49 in 2021 and 44-46 last term), but they will be expecting a full-hearted onslaught from Oxford who will be keen to reach their first final since their relaunch.

Poole promoter Dan Ford said "We are under no illusions, this is going to be tough. I know that we beat Oxford in the BSN group both home and away but that in itself is bound to have them wanting to avenge for those results. But I have a lot of faith in our lads, they have repeatedly shown this season that they can grind important results out when the pressure is on. We haven't seen the very best of the Pirates yet this season, there is a more in the tank and we will be looking to try and maintain our proud cup record. I think we are in for two very exciting meetings this week."

Oxford, who stage the semi-final first leg on Tuesday before the sides meet again just twenty four hours later at Wimborne Road, have been forced into a change since the Pirates visited them back in April, with Ryan Kinsley having been signed as cover for the injured Australian Luke Killeen, but their strong spearhead of Sam Masters, Scott Nicholls and Lewis Kerr is a heat-leader trio that will take some beating. 

Poole are hoping to have Richard Lawson back in the saddle after he missed Wednesday's thrilling encounter against Scunthorpe when the Pirates opened their league title defence.

This will be the fifth time in the club's history that they have ridden a knockout cup tie against Oxford, but the first time for twenty years, when the Pirates earned a 100-80 aggregate semi-final victory before going on to lift the Elite League Knockout Cup trophy by beating Coventry 90-88.

Teams:
Oxford: 1 Sam Masters  2 Cameron Heeps 3 Lewis Kerr 4 Jordan Jenkins 5 Scott Nicholls (Capt) 6 Henry Atkins 7 Ryan Kinsley Team manager Peter Shroeck
Poole: 1 Steve Worrall (Capt) 2 Anders Rowe 3 Ben Cook 4 Zach Cook 5 Richard Lawson 6 Kyle Newman 7 Adam Roynon Team manager Neil Middleditch
 

Photo: Steve Edmonds