REACTION: PIRATES STILL ON TRACK FOR CUP DEFENCE

Steve Worrall celebrated his side booking their place in the Knockout Cup final for the third successive season by praising his colleagues, in particular Ben Cook and Kyle Newman, after the Pirates negotiated their way past Oxford with a 52-38 home win, giving them a 96-84 aggregate triumph.
 

"I guess the hard work has been  done so far to get to the final and we will now just wait and see who it is we have to meet. I don’t think we have given any thought as to whether we have a preference to where we go. I don't think we care to be honest!" claimed the Pirates skipper before adding "It's three years now for this competition and we have got ourselves into two finals already this year. It seems strange so early in the season, you know usually by this point in the season it is just about league matches , but it was a good performance again by everybody. I can't say I was fantastic, I'm just a second place man at the minute. I just keep getting second places but we've got some great back up. Ben and Kyle played a massive part again tonight but we are all out there and we are a team at the end of the day and it is the team that goes out there and does the job."

Worrall, who also confirmed that 2021 World Champion Artem Laguta will be lining up for a Poole team in the re-staging of his Testimonial in two weeks time, was spot on with his acknowledgment of his fellow team-mates. Ben Cook produced an absolutely sensational ride in heat nine to pass and hold off Scott Nicholls in an enthralling speedway race, which his brother Zach won to give Poole their fourth maximum heat advantage of the night and an eight point aggregate lead. Whilst Newman had a magnificent meeting too, collecting a bonus point in each of his five rides to add to his race point tally of eight. 
For the second successive week the Pirates couldn't take points off the visiting number one. This time it was Sam Masters who scorched his way to an untouchable five ride maximum in fine style but it was the Pirates who had the better all round strength, a key element of their success. 

The meeting that included an early sun break and plenty of interruptions for track grading was slightly marred by a shocking fall for former Pirate Scott Nicholls in heat thirteen. 
With the visitors needing three maximum advantages to deny Poole qualification, the Cheetahs' number five was following Masters on the second lap with some distance between themselves and Richard Lawson, when Nicholls' throttle jammed open and he clipped the inner kerb, which threw him to the ground. Fortunately Lawson was able to steer round the stricken Nicholls, who sustained some rib damage as a consequence in the fall which also earned him a disqualification and effectively ended the Cheetahs's chances. 

POOLE 52 (96) - Zach Cook 11 (3,2,3,3,0) ,Ben Cook 10+3 (2',1',2',3,2) ,Kyle Newman 8+5 (2',1',RS,2',1',2') ,Richard Lawson 8 (2,2,2,2) ,Steve Worrall 7+1 (2,2,2,1') ,Anders Rowe 4+1 (0,1',3,0) ,Adam Roynon 4 (3,RS,0,RS,1) 
OXFORD 38 (84) - Sam Masters 15 (3,3,3,3,3) ,Lewis Kerr 10 (1,3,3,2,1) ,Scott Nicholls 7 (3,3,1,FD) ,Jordan Jenkins 3 (0,1,1,1) ,Henry Atkins 2 (1,0,RS,1,RS,0,0) ,Cameron Heeps 1 (1,0,0,0) ,Ryan Kinsley 0 (0,RS,0,RS,0,RS)
 

 Report and Full Heat details