Poole Pirates v Oxford Cheetahs

Report

POOLE are through to their third successive Championship KO Cup Final after completing a 12-point aggregate victory over Oxford.

The Pirates won 52-38 at Wimborne Road despite a 15-point maximum from the Cheetahs’ No.1 Sam Masters, but the defending Cup holders proved to be the far more solid side.

Zach Cook (11) and brother Ben (10+3) led the scoring with Kyle Newman racking up 8+5 at reserve, whilst the Oxford scorechart was dominated by their heat-leaders.

Lewis Kerr scored 10 and Scott Nicholls won his opening two rides but then suffered a heavy crash in Heat 13 when his throttle jammed, taking no further part due to a knock to his ribs.

Poole captain Steve Worrall said: “I guess the hard work has been done so far to get to the Final and we will now just wait and see who it is we have to meet.

“It’s three years now for this competition and we have got ourselves into two Finals already this year.

“It was a good performance again by everybody. I can’t say I was fantastic, I’m just a second-place man at the minute. I just keep getting second places, but we’ve got some great back-up.”

Masters said: “We win as a team and lose as a team. Maybe if I could have scored a few more points in the first leg at Oxford, that would have made it easier, but we still probably wouldn’t have had enough points for tonight. But we gave it our all and we can’t do anything more.

“It was really unfortunate when Scott came off. He was looking really fast tonight. We were on for a 5-1 and that would have left us with a chance, and it might have been a different story. We hope Scott is okay, because we need him.”

CHAMPIONSHIP KO CUP SEMI-FINAL, 2nd leg
POOLE 52: Zach Cook 11, Ben Cook 10+3, Kyle Newman 8+5, Richard Lawson 8, Steve Worrall 7+1, Anders Rowe 4+1, Adam Roynon 4.
OXFORD 38: Sam Masters 15, Lewis Kerr 10, Scott Nicholls 7, Jordan Jenkins 3, Henry Atkins 2, Cameron Heeps 1, Ryan Kinsley 0.
Poole win 96-84 on aggregate

OFFICIAL REFEREE SCORECARD
Available here

Photo credit: ANTHONY BURCHELL