PIRATES promoter Danny Ford hopes a “flurry of meetings” will help Poole gel as a unit after a quiet start to the season.

Poole have only taken to the shale twice this campaign, with a host of postponements leaving Pirates kicking their heels.

Wednesday night’s clash at Wimborne Road with Plymouth Gladiators was preemptively postponed, with Pirates racing just once in April.

However, Pirates have won both of their meetings, including the first leg of their Knockout cup tie with Edinburgh Monarchs at home.

Poole take a slender 49-40 lead into tonight’s second leg at Armadale (7.30pm), with Ford set to lead the side as team boss.

Speaking ahead of the meeting, which kicks off three away trips in the span of five days, Ford shared:  "We stated at the time that we were looking for a decent lead to take with us into the second leg, but Edinburgh did well to keep us in check.

“That means the tables are turned on Friday and we just have to stop them eating into that lead.

“I certainly believe it is doable but there is no doubt we have to be on our A-game, and the same is true over the course of our forthcoming three matches."

"Berwick on Saturday will be very tough, we might have something of a 'secret weapon' in that Richard (Lawson) has always gone well there and only last week he scored an impressive maximum when he covered for the injured Lewi Kerr, but one man can't win a meeting on their own.

“Then next Wednesday we travel to Oxford and that is never an easy place to go to."

"The lack of meetings as a unit has not helped us and we would have preferred to have gone into this schedule with more meetings behind us, but the weather has just been foul and we can now only hope that we are through the worst of conditions and look forward to a flurry of meetings."