Poole Pirates v Glasgow Tigers

POOLE ran up a huge 60-30 win over Glasgow at Wimborne Road to take control of their Championship play-off semi-final.

The Pirates repeated the score they had achieved over fellow high-flyers Leicester in the KO Cup last week, and would face the Lions again in the Grand Final if they defend their advantage at Ashfield on Saturday.

Ben Cook scored a four-ride paid maximum (10+2) for the hosts with Richard Lawson (14) only beaten in Heat 15, Steve Worrall added 11 and reserve Zach Cook piled up 13+4.

The Tigers were limited to just two race wins and one race advantage, the latter coming courtesy of Craig Cook (9+1) and Benjamin Basso with a 4-2 in Heat 15.

Poole boss Neil Middleditch said: “I never saw that coming, I thought it would be a lot, lot tighter, but I said to my boys at the start of the meeting, ‘hit the ground running,’ and that’s what they did.

“I said I wanted a minimum 10 points, and 30 would be nice – but 30 is beyond our wildest dreams, and the boys were so up for it.

“I know there was all the controversy at Glasgow the other night, but I told them to forget that, tonight was the night to get out on track and do it – and what a great team performance.”

Glasgow manager Cami Brown said: “I’m really gutted, it’s quite an embarrassing result, but we were beaten by a superb team.

“I know what Leicester felt like last week, but we’ll be giving it a bash in the second leg.”

CHAMPIONSHIP PLAY OFF, SEMI-FINAL, 1st leg
POOLE 60: Richard Lawson 14, Zach Cook 13+4, Steve Worrall 11, Ben Cook 10+2, Danny King 8+1, Drew Kemp 2+1, Nathan Ablitt 2+1
GLASGOW 30: Craig Cook 9+1, Paul Starke 6+1, Benjamin Basso 6, Tom Brennan 4, Broc Nicol 3+1, Connor Bailey 2+2, Ulrich Ostergaard r/r

OFFICIAL REFEREE SCORECARD
Available here

Photo credit: ANTHONY BURCHELL