TEAM boss Neil Middleditch took the positives out of Pirates' 54-36 defeat at Wolverhampton and insisted: "It wasn't all doom and gloom."

Poole were condemned to their third straight defeat in the SGB Premiership on a night when the hosts' Rory Schlein stormed to a maximum and his team-mate Sam Masters also ran riot.

One heat advantage in 15 attempts told the story of a meeting in which Peter Kildemand struggled and Pirates' reserves were blown away by their Wolves counterparts.

Middleditch told the Daily Echo: "I thought we were a bit more competitive tonight.

"We kept plugging away but just couldn't get on terms. Wolverhampton have very good track craft round here and we weren't quite good enough.

"It's another loss but there were a few good signs. Brady (Kurtz) went well again. It wasn't the result we wanted but it wasn't all doom and gloom.

"Schlein was outstanding, much like Peter Karlsson at his best round Wolverhampton. He was missing gates but still making passes and we didn't have an answer.

"I don't want to keep saying it but it's still early days yet and we have to bounce back at King's Lynn on Wednesday."

Honours were even in the opening heat after former Poole racer Kyle Howarth failed to get off the start line, Jacob Thorssell triumphing in his absence.

Wolves were sharper out of the traps in the battle of the reserves and Ashley Morris cruised in to spearhead a maximum.

Swedish international Linus Sundstrom looked on course to claim the visitors' first heat win, only to be caught by Schlein on the back straight of the final lap.

Pirates were again second-best from the tapes in heat four, Kildemand trailing at the back as Masters and Morris roared home.

In heat five, Kurtz was in front until comeback kid Schlein powered through on the third turn. But Kacper Woryna's lap-two pass on Cameron Heeps saw the points shared.

Kildemand snared Poole's first heat victory as the Dane's fortunes changed, with Mateusz Szczepaniak placing fourth having remounted his machine after a fall.

Pirates captain Josh Grajczonek and Sundstrom had been up against it early on but both passed reserve Nathan Greaves to turn a home maximum into a more palatable 3-3.

However, Howarth then burst into life and combined with the inspired Morris for a 5-1, handing the hosts a 12-point lead.

In as a tactical substitute, Kurtz could not dethrone the unbeaten Schlein as Kildemand delivered a second scoreless outing.

A topsy-turvy heat 10 saw both teams hold a 5-1 position at different stages but the points were eventually shared as Grajczonek and Sundstrom split the Wolves duo.

Kurtz led in Pirates' first heat advantage next to reduce the deficit but back came Wolves with Heeps a surprise winner of race 12.

The fast-starting Masters proved uncatchable in heat 13 as Pirates' defeat was confirmed.

And the mercurial Schlein completed his maximum with back-to-back wins to close the meeting.

RIDERS’ SCORES AND HEAT DETAILS

Wolverhampton 54: 1 Jacob Thorssell (3-2-3-0) 8, 2 Kyle Howarth (r-1*-3-0) 4+1, 3 Cameron Heeps (0-0-1-3) 4, 4 Rory Schlein (3-3-3-3-3) 15, 5 Sam Masters (3-3-2-3-2*) 13+1, 6 Nathan Greaves (2*-0-0-0) 2+1, 7 Ashley Morris (3-2*-2*-1) 8+2.

Pirates 36: 1 Brady Kurtz (2-2-2-3-2-1) 12, 2 Kacper Woryna (1*-1*-1-1-0) 4+2, 3 Josh Grajczonek (1*-2-2-2) 7+1, 4 Linus Sundstrom (2-1*-1*-2) 6+2, 5 Peter Kildemand (0-3-0-1*) 4+1, 6 Mateusz Szczepaniak (1-0-0) 1, 7 James Shanes (0-1-0-1*) 2+1.

HT 1: Thorssell, Kurtz, Woryna, Howarth (retired), 55.57 (3-3)

HT 2: Morris, Greaves, Szczepaniak, Shanes, 57.00 (8-4)

HT 3: Schlein, Sundstrom, Grajczonek, Heeps, 56.47 (11-7)

HT 4: Masters, Morris, Shanes, Kildemand, 56.45 (16-8)

HT 5: Schlein, Kurtz, Woryna, Heeps, 56.22 (19-11)

HT 6: Kildemand, Thorssell, Howarth, Szczepaniak (fell/rem), 56.29 (22-14)

HT 7: Masters, Grajczonek, Sundstrom, Greaves, 57.05 (25-17)

HT 8: Howarth, Morris, Woryna, Shanes, 57.62 (30-18)

HT 9: Schlein, Kurtz, Heeps, Kildemand, 57.07 (34-20)

HT 10: Thorssell, Grajczonek, Sundstrom, Howarth, 57.49 (37-23)

HT 11: Kurtz, Masters, Woryna, Greaves, 57.41 (39-27)

HT 12: Heeps, Grajczonek, Morris, Szczepaniak (fell/rem), 56.40 (43-29)

HT 13: Masters, Kurtz, Kildemand, Thorssell, 57.93 (46-32)

HT 14: Schlein, Sundstrom, Shanes, Greaves, 57.81 (49-35)

HT 15: Schlein, Masters, Kurtz, Woryna, 57.93 (54-36)

ECHO STAR RIDER: BRADY KURTZ

ANOTHER difficult night for Pirates and it could have been a whole lot worse had Brady Kurtz not hit double figures.

Kurtz and Peter Kildemand were the only Poole riders to take the chequered flag at Monmore Green but the former Australian champion followed that up with consistency elsewhere.

He could not touch Rory Schlein – but no one could – and Sam Masters was also excellent.

A second chastening defeat in a week, albeit this time on away shale, leaves Poole needing some sort of return on their trip to King’s Lynn tomorrow.