MAGNUS Zetterstrom admitted he was lucky to escape without injury after a nasty first-bend fall during Pirates' terrific 56-36 home Knockout Cup triumph over Coventry last night.

Then he said Poole Castle Cover would not be "taking anything for granted" in the semi-final, second leg, despite their impressive 20-point victory last night.

Zetterstrom went down hard after being inadvertently hit from behind by Bees rider Chris Harris in heat 10.

The Swede fell into the air fence and his bike also ploughed into him, but Zorro was able to gingerly get back to the pits nursing only a sore backside.

After finishing this semi-final, first leg, replay with seven paid nine, Zetterstrom said: "I'm just glad I walked away from that one because it could have been worse.

"I bent the handlebars and forks but it's nothing serious, just a few hundred pounds.

"I've got a sore backside and some muscle damage, but it'll be okay.

"I'm glad we have an air fence here."

Some Pirates fans were quick to boo Harris, who they felt had deliberately put Zorro into the fence.

But Zetterstrom, who went out of trap two, said: "It was tough racing, but it was just first bend bunching.

"Next time I'm on the inside it could happen to someone else.

"It's racing. It was just an accident.

"If we had been at Coventry, their fans would have booed our rider under the same circumstances if their man had gone down.

"That's speedway. That's all part of it and why we like it!"

Pirates take a 20-point lead into the second leg at Coventry on an undecided date with memories of their Craven Shield semi-final collapse at Brandon in May fresh in their minds.

Zetterstrom didn't ride in Poole's almost unbelievable 58-32 defeat which saw Bees overturn a 24-point first leg deficit to triumph 92-90 on aggregate.

But he said: "Anything can happen in speedway, so it's nice to have a 20-point lead in our back pocket.

"We aren't taking anything for granted. Coventry have a very good team. We know what they can do. It's the end of the season and weather can change, the track can be difficult.

"We're hungry for it though, and we'll go there thinking positive things, that we drew there 45-45 not long ago, rather than we lost their heavily in May."