ALL SQUARE AT COWLEY

FIVE-MAN Oxford battled their way to a remarkable 45-45 draw against unbeaten Poole in the Cab Direct Championship.

Already without Mitch McDiarmid due to SGP2 commitments, the Cheetahs were further reduced in number when Edward Kennett was withdrawn after his first ride with a wrist injury.

It meant reserves Dayle Wood and Darryl Ritchings both took seven outings, yet they were never behind throughout the meeting.

Poole fought back from six points down to level the scores with a 4-2 in Heat 14, and with home skipper Sam Masters (13+2) completing a paid maximum in Heat 15, Richard Lawson and Zach Cook (14+1) headed Anders Rowe to ensure a shared outcome.

Masters said: “It was a good night and a good performance from our lads. I expected us to get beaten after we were reduced to five riders.

“Sometimes, you’ve got to be realistic and when you go down to just five riders against a side as strong as Poole, you know it’s going to be tough.

“But it was fantastic performance from all our remaining boys. To take a draw against Poole when we had several races with our two reserves out together, we can’t complain.”

Pirates boss Neil Middleditch said: “That was a tough one. At least we are still unbeaten. I felt we had the chances tonight to win this but we made hard work of it, although to be fair to Oxford they did a good job especially after losing Eddie.

“We knew with the scores level that we just had to avoid the last place and up against Sam and Anders. That in itself was not an easy task, especially from gates 2 and 4. So, we avoided defeat and we’ll take it.”

Watch the action from the Heat 12 (courtesy of OXFORD SPEEDWAY TV | https://livestream.oxfordspeedway.club)

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Photo credit: STEVE EDMUNDS