MATT Ford last night confirmed Pirates would face Lakeside in the Elite League play-off semi-finals.

The Poole Coastal Aluminium promoter revealed the reigning champions would travel to the Arena Essex Raceway on Monday, before hosting the second leg at Wimborne Road seven days later.

Pirates secured their place at the top of the Elite standings on Monday after registering a 47-43 win at Birmingham in their final league fixture of the campaign.

That gave the Dorset promotion the right to choose who they would face in the last four shoot-out.

Ford told the Echo last night: “Ludvig Lindgren didn’t have the best of meetings at Birmingham on Monday and I’d expect more from him, plus we are hopeful that Piotr Pawlicki will return in time for Monday, so we thought we could go back there and get a result.

“But Birmingham have been reasonable at our place this year, so, taking all things into consideration, myself, Chris Holder and Neil Middleditch felt that Lakeside was the best option for us.”

Birmingham booked their spot in the top four after suffering a narrow 46-44 defeat against second-placed Swindon at Perry Barr last night and the two sides will face off again on Monday in the first leg of the semi-finals.

The Hammers, meanwhile, remained in the shake-up after Peterborough were beaten 52-40 at Coventry last night.

Ford added: “I have no doubt that if Peterborough hadn’t suffered the injuries they have, they would have been right in the mix.

“They would have been a massive threat to everybody else at full strength, but it was just terrible bad luck that they received the injuries to Ryan Sullivan and Linus Sundstrom when they did.”