REACTION: PIRATES CRUISE INTO BSN FINAL

The Poole 'Wessex Marine' Pirates cruised sedately into the harbour of the BSN Series Final with an emphatic second leg semi-final performance at Oxford with a 52-38  victory.
 

Such was the determination of the Pirates, the tie was resolved within ten heats, with Poole hitting the required 33 points required after their home trouncing of the Cheetahs back in the middle of August.

Team manager Neil Middleditch summed up the evening at Cowley up claiming "we came here to do a job and the lads have more than delivered tonight."

Delivered they certainly did.

By the time they had reached the qualifying marker they had only conceded one heat to the home side, that as late as the tenth heat. The 5-1 from Sam Masters and Luke Killeen happened to be the only time the Cheetahs managed to outpoint the Pirates in a heat, as Poole registered four 4-2 heat advantages consecutively thereafter, before Masters ruined Richard Lawson's personal maximum after a real tussle in heat fifteen, but skipper Zach Cook cemented third place even in that heat.
Poole's opponents in the BSN Final should be decided this weekend with Glasgow hosting Redcar on Friday in the first leg, followed by the conclusion of the tie at Redcar on Saturday.

OXFORD 38 -Sam Masters 13 (2,FD,3,3,2,3) ,Luke Killeen 8+2 (1',3,0,2,2',0) ,Mitch McDiarmid 8 (0,2,2,2,2) ,Cameron Heeps 4+2 (2,1',1',0,0,0) ,Francis Gusts 4 (2,0,2,0) ,Darryl Ritchings 1 (0,1,0,RS)
POOLE 52 -Richard Lawson 14 (3,3,3,3,2) ,Zach Cook 9+2 (1',3,1,3,1') ,Anders Rowe 9 (3,2,3,1) ,Lewis Kerr 7+1 (2,2',0,3) ,Tobias Thomsen 5 (0,1,3,1) ,Paul Starke 4+1 (1,1',1,1) ,William Cairns 4 (3,0,0,1)

Full Heat details and meeting report

Photo credit Liam Cockwell