Glasgow Tigers v Poole Pirates

Report

POOLE maintained top spot in the Cab Direct Championship after a thrilling 46-44 win at Glasgow on Friday.

Both sides traded the lead in a nip-and-tuck encounter, and they were level heading into the final race.

Richard Lawson and Ben Cook collected the decisive 4-2 for the Pirates as both recovered from disqualifications earlier in the meeting, with Tigers skipper Chris Harris passing Cook but being unable to get to Lawson.

Both Lawson and Cook scored 11 for the visitors and Tom Brennan chipped in with nine on his old home track, whilst Harris (12), reserve James Pearson (11+2) and Anders Rowe (10) dominated the Glasgow scoring.

Lawson said: “I was still fired up from that Heat 1 incident. That annoyed me, and I keep saying it, when we are that close I have such belief in the team just to come through. We just never, ever, give up.

“We knew what we had to do there and to be fair, I got the win but Ben did so much hard work on that first lap. He got out in front and then he let me onto the good racing line, and he held Bomber back and we got what we needed.”

Glasgow manager Cami Brown said: “No excuses from us, we were beaten by the better team on the night.

“But I have to say our fighting spirit this season has been outstanding. The boys really got stuck in early on and battled hard to keep Poole at bay.

“We’ve got to pick ourselves up quickly from this setback. It’s going to be very tight now to try and get into the top four and the play-offs.”

CAB DIRECT CHAMPIONSHIP
GLASGOW 44: Chris Harris 12, James Pearson 11+2, Anders Rowe 10, Leon Flint 5, Matic Ivacic 3+2, Jack Smith 3, Jason Garrad 0
POOLE 46: Richard Lawson 11, Ben Cook 11, Tom Brennan 9, Zach Cook 6+1, Vinnie Foord 5, Sam Hagon 2+1, Ashton Boughen 2

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Photo credit: IAN ADAM