PIRATES PRAISE FOR GLASGOW

POOLE manager Neil Middleditch was magnanimous in defeat as his side’s two-year run as league champions came to an end.

The Pirates were beaten by Glasgow in the Cab Direct Championship Grand Final, denying them a hat-trick of titles – with play-off specialist Chris Harris the prime architect of the result.

Harris, who won the top-flight title with Poole in 2018, was unbeaten in the first leg at Ashfield and kept that run going at Wimborne Road until the tie was safe, with the home side never able to make serious inroads into a 14-point deficit.

Middleditch said: “I really felt that we had it in our tanks to be able to do it. 14 points was a big mountain but I thought we could do it.

“To have done so, we had needed to hit them hard early on and we didn’t do that and that was the problem. They came at us straight away and we didn’t really have an answer for it, especially for Bomber!

“If you looked up speedway in the dictionary there would be a picture of Bomber because he is amazing. Hats off to him. He’s not only a handful but he is also one of the nicest blokes in speedway.

“So, well done to Glasgow, they have been waiting a long, long time for this and congratulations to Cami [Brown, team manager] and the Glasgow team and supporters.

“They were the best team over the two legs, no complaints from me, we were out-ridden tonight when it mattered.”

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Photo credit: ANTHONY BURCHELL