SWINDON V POOLE - MONDAY 6TH AUGUST 2012 - ELITE LEAGUE
Tuesday 07 August, 2012
Poole Coastal Alumiminium Pirates saw their advantage at the top of the Sky Sports Elite league reduced to just one point after they narrowly missed out on a consolation league point against second placed Swindon Robins.
Already without the services of their third highest averaged rider, Krzysztof Kasprzak, the Pirates found themselves in unfamiliar territory of just two race wins out of 11 appearances from Darcy Ward and Chris Holder.
Crucially, with Peter Kildemand a heat 15 faller the Pirates needed just one of them to finish ahead of former Pirate Hans Andersen in the re-run of the final race and Ward looked set to accomplish that mission as he powered round the Dane at the first opportunity.
Holder, in third was having a night to forget, the conditions, left heavy by a huge downpour just an hour or so before the start time, not conducive for a man coming back from injury and his night of misery was summed up when he had to push home from a quarter of a lap out. but it was a forlorn point as far as the meeting was concerned, for Ward, in an attempt to slow the race down to help out Holder, had erroneously offered Andersen an invitation to pass and the Dane wasted no time in delivering his R.S.V.P.
He blasted round Ward with a lap to go and remained resolute to the Robins' cause as Ward attempted to redress the balance. But the damage had been done and the Pirates, instead of returning to Dorset with three points between them and second placed Swindon have minimal breathing space as just one point separates the two sides.
On the positives, Ricky Kling enjoyed his second best performance of the season with a paid 10 return whist Dennis Andersson claimed a paid 8 score and Sam Masters, Pirates first race winner of the evening was paid for 9 points. And it was from those contributions that the Pirates kept the home side firmly in their sights throughout the majority of the meeting.
Just four points divided the two sides for the majority of the match, the Robins banking the solitary 5-1 of the night in heat 13 when Andersen and Kildemand triumphed comprehensively over Kling (taking his rider replacement outing) and Holder, to double their lead.
Some fortune went the Pirates way in heat 14 when Batchelor, having passed Masters overcooked things and fell to allow the Pirates a heat share and give themselves the chance of going for that heat 15 advantage.
Poole boss Matt Ford said afterwards "I am disappointed we came away with nothing from tonight. We had our chance but didn't take it. There were some positives to be taken from tonight though, we were not at our strongest but still took it to a last heat decider as far as a league point was concerned. Darcy and Chris have won so many points for us this season that I guess the law of averages meant that at some stage it would go against us, but to be so close and let it slip was disappointing.
"It means we need to bounce back quickly on Wednesday against Peterborough who will be spurred on by their massive home win (61-32 over Lakeside) no doubt, but we can ill-afford any more slip-ups. I set a target of 5 points from this week's meeting and to achieve that now we need two good results against the Panthers.
