IMPRESSIVE Wolverhampton tonight punished lacklustre Pirates as the Dorset club’s long and proud Wimborne Road unbeaten record was left in tatters.

Wolves condemned Pirates to their first defeat on home shale since September 5, 2011 with a well-earned – and fully deserved – 48-42 victory.

Inspired by captain ‘Fast’ Freddie Lindgren, Wolves became the first away team to triumph on Poole’s territory since Belle Vue.

On a positive note, Pirates were confident Darcy Ward had avoided serious injury after the star rider, only just back in action following a wrist problem, had suffered a cut and bruised thumb in a heavy heat-13 spill.

But that was one of the few plus points for Pirates as they were outgunned in this rare Poole Stadium reverse.

With Cherries striker Brett Pitman among the spectators at a cold and windy Wimborne Road, Pirates would have been hoping for some firepower of their own.

But Wolves, with four league wins in their opening five outings, had other ideas and followed their 45-44 home win over Poole with a solid team effort led by skipper Lindgren (12).

After denying Pirates a heat advantage until the eighth race and restricting Ward and Chris Holder to an uncharacteristic eight points apiece, Wolves did the hard work before completing the job efficiently.

Tai Woffinden set the tone with a victory first up before fast-starting Kyle Howarth got Poole on the board.

Popular ex-Pirates star Adam Skornicki powered past Dennis Andersson, a temporary recruit for Robert Miskowiak, as the Swede and Holder were left to take the minor places.

Wolves continued to dictate as Freddie Lindgren and Proctor showed how to defend from the front by denying hard-chasing Maciej Janowski and Holder, respectively, to leave lacklustre Poole with plenty to do.

Ward then showed his colleagues how it was done with a typically blistering effort to brilliantly rocket round Freddie Lindgren in a shared contest.

Janowski claimed race seven but Pirates trailed at 23-19.

That elusive heat advantage arrived courtesy of Rohan Tungate and Dawid Stachyra who held their nerve to sandwich the impressive Proctor.

Holder and Andersson looked set to follow up with a maximum until Freddie Lindgren launched a stunning assault to blast past both Poole men to leave the world champion without a win in three outings.

But Ward ensured that memory was soon erased as he led Stachyra, who profited from a jet-propelled start, to a much-needed 5-1 as Pirates edged ahead.

However, the revival was short-lived and Wolves regained the lead when Proctor joined Woffinden in a majestic maximum.

Needing a trademark late surge at 34-32 adrift, Holder won an even 12th heat before Janowski did the same in race 13, which proved unlucky for Ward who, having gone from first to last, dramatically hit the deck and hurt his thumb while attempting some scintillating moves in a bid to beat Freddie Lindgren and Woffinden.

The writing had been on the wall for most of the meeting and Pirates’ fate was sealed when Ludvig Lindgren and Skornicki combined for a match-winning maximum.

Janowski provided a final flourish in heat 15 but it was too little, too late.