PREVIEW: POOLE v GLASGOW (CAB DIRECT CHAMP GRAND FINAL)

POOLE  and Glasgow go head-to-head at Wimborne Road tonight (Wednesday) in the first leg of the Cab Direct Championship Grand Final.

The Pirates are the defending champions and they face the only club to prevent them from winning the silverware since the sport resumed after Covid.

Poole beat Glasgow 96-84 in the 2021 Grand Final and also knocked the Tigers out in the play-off semi-finals one year later, but in 2023 the Scottish side were victorious in the Grand Final by a 10-point aggregate margin.

Both sides name full-strength line-ups for the first leg in Dorset, before the tie is concluded at Ashfield on Friday.

Pirates co-boss Gary Havelock said: “I know I might sound like a stuck record, but these Pirates are just amazing.

“They keep raising the bar higher every week, and it is such a long hard season that when you get to the play-offs and Finals you can run out of steam.

“But these boys just build a head. I really believe that if they don’t do the Treble again it will be a real travesty.”

Tigers manager Cami Brown said: “The Pirates have had the upper hand so far this season over us, but we’ve not been at full strength on any of those occasions. We will have a full team for the Grand Final and now is the time for our boys to shine. 

“We have to find an extra level for the Final. The boys know that, and they have to deliver. 

“Poole have been the benchmark when it comes to winning titles and doing it when it counts.  However, we managed to do that two years ago, and I believe we have the team to do the same job this time round.”

POOLE: Richard Lawson, Tobias Thomsen, Lewis Kerr, Zach Cook, Anders Rowe, Paul Starke, Will Cairns.

GLASGOW: Chris Harris, Villads Nagel, Dan Thompson, Leon Flint, Kyle Howarth, Freddy Hodder, Max Perry.

SCB Referee: Christina Turnbull

*LIVE STREAMING: https://watch.britishspeedway.co.uk