Poole Pirates v Leicester Lions

POOLE lead the Championship Grand Final 49-41 after a dramatic first leg on Wednesday which saw opponents Leicester race into an early ten-point lead.

The Pirates were under serious pressure on their home circuit when they trailed 16-26 after seven races, but they dominated the second half of the meeting and outscored the Lions by ten points over the last three races to build an advantage.

Richard Lawson (12) led the way with four wins, and reserve Zach Cook made another important contribution with 10+1.

For Leicester, guest Scott Nicholls top-scored with 9+2, with the Lions being without regular team boss Stewart Dickson who had been admitted to hospital on Tuesday evening with chest pains, although he was released on Wednesday.

Poole manager Neil Middleditch said: “I said I’d like ten points or more, but we can hold on to eight if we ride like we did in the latter part of the meeting tonight.

“I had a chat with the boys and said we had to get as many points as we could out of the last five heats, and they were absolutely fantastic.

“It was better than I expected if I’m perfectly honest, it was an outstanding comeback from the boys – from ten points down, it was looking pretty grim.”

Stand-in Leicester boss Garry May said: “I think eight points is doable. The gates went against us towards the end, one and three wasn’t very good but two and four was, and they had them towards the end.

“Poole were always going to come back, but we did well in the heats I thought we would lose it in, so I think we did better than we probably thought we would have done.

“It could still go either way. I think even Stewart would be happy with eight points, and hopefully we can do it on Saturday.”

CHAMPIONSHIP GRAND FINAL, 1st leg
POOLE 49: Richard Lawson 12, Zach Cook 10+1, Steve Worrall 9+1, Danny King 8+1, Ben Cook 5, Drew Kemp 4+1, Nathan Ablitt 1
LEICESTER 41: Scott Nicholls 9+2, Nick Morris 9, Richie Worrall 8, Connor Mountain 5+2, Joe Thompson 5+1, Dan Thompson 4+1, Max Clegg 1+1

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Photo credit: ANTHONY BURCHELL