PAIN BUT NO GAIN (From Bournemouth Echo)

PAIN BUT NO GAIN

7:00am Saturday 31st May 2008 in

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CHRIS Holder admitted he "was happy to get through the meeting" after notching a battling seven points in Pirates' 53-39 defeat at Lakeside last night.

The young Aussie was making his Poole Castle Cover comeback after eight days out with back, rib and kidney injuries.

But he confessed after the Elite League clash that all was still not well with his body, although he could not put his finger on what the actual problem was.

Holder, who probably performed to about 90 per cent of his fitness capability, said: "My first race took a bit of getting used to, but then I had no option, I had to keep going because we were struggling.

"It (Holder's back, ribs and kidneys) feels all right at the moment, although my body will probably feel a bit sore in the morning.

"However, I came away from the meeting pretty good."

There had been major doubts about whether Holder would be fit enough to line up at Lakeside. But he eventually took five rides.

The Aussie, who has consulted doctors but said they were unable to pinpoint the exact nature of his injury, added: "I was going to ride here the whole time.

"I was always going to try. I was never not going to ride.

"I have an important meeting in Poland on Sunday. If I had missed this one and then went over there and rode I would have got into trouble.

"So I've got Poland this weekend, Sweden on Tuesday and Poole on Wednesday, so it's back to normal.

"Taking eight days off has helped and I was pretty happy when Poole's meeting was called off on Wednesday because it meant I could take an extra couple of days to get better.

"I can do everything, no problem. I do feel a bit of pain, but as soon as I lift my lefthand side and try to get up it hurts a fair bit.

"I can't really put my finger on what is actually wrong. It feels good one minute, not so good the next.

"I was happy to get through tonight's meeting."

Talking about Poole's reverse, Holder added: "We struggled badly, everyone except Krzysztof (Kasprzak).

"He was excellent, but we need everyone scoring to win. Unfortunately we couldn't do that tonight."