POOLE team boss Neil Middleditch has told his riders to draw a line under the Chris Holder saga and focus their attentions on winning the SGB Premiership.

Middleditch was speaking after Pirates had on Wednesday registered an emphatic 58-32 win over patched-up King’s Lynn to climb off the foot of the table.

Victory came just days after Poole had finally given up hope of welcoming back talisman and former world champion Holder this season due to ongoing personal issues.

Pirates responded by crushing King’s Lynn with all seven riders recording at least one heat victory in their biggest win of what has been a largely disappointing campaign.

Middleditch told the Daily Echo: “We were all hoping against hope that Chris would eventually get the green light to ride for us this season but I always had a feeling it might not happen.

“At the start of the season, we assembled a team which we thought could win the league.

“Looking at the riders, the form and the averages, we felt the team was good enough and, with Chris in the line up, we would have been a real powerhouse.

“But we know we haven’t got him now and I have told the other lads to forget what has gone on in the past.

“It is history and we must just look forward now. Hopefully, this will be the start and the momentum can push us towards the play-offs.”

Poole’s third league win of the season saw them leapfrog King’s Lynn and Rye House into sixth place, just four points shy of the play-off places.

And Middleditch is confident they can continue their upward curve as the club looks to celebrate its 70th anniversary by lifting more silverware.

He added: “I said to the boys on the track walk before the King’s Lynn meeting ‘you are the seven to get us to the play-offs and to win the league’. I said we all needed to work together as a team.

“We certainly did that against King’s Lynn. There was good scoring from one to seven and that is the key factor.

“You can have a 15-point man but, if you haven’t got the back up, you are not going to win meetings.

“Robert Lambert was outstanding for King’s Lynn but didn’t really have a lot of back up. I know it was an away track for them but you can only race what is put in front of you.

“The riders showed some great spirit and there were some fantastic rides from Richie Worrall, really tough rides. There were some really good signs and I was really pleased at last.”

Pirates’ play-off credentials will be tested in their next two meetings – away to fourth-placed Somerset on Wednesday and at third-placed Belle Vue on Monday, June 25.