LADY luck went missing for Pirates big time as they somehow contrived to throw away four league points at Brandon tonight.

Poole Castle Cover were on course to pick up their first away league win of the season when Hans Andersen and Chris Holder blasted into the third turn in front in heat 13.

With Martin Smolinski chasing them, and Coventry star Chris Harris tailed off at the back, it looked certain the Dorset club would stretch their lead from 37-34 to 42-35 with only two races to go.

But then it all went wrong in front of a bumper 3,000 crowd at the East Midlands track as Holder and Andersen got too close to each other on the fourth bend on a difficult wet circuit and the Aussie fell.

Holder was excluded, and Andersen, who had already taken the chequered flag three times before, stayed cool to outgate Harris in the re-run and snatch a 3-3.

Pirates, who had led ever since banging in a 5-1 from Andersen and Joe Screen over Harris in the opening race, still held a three-point advantage going into the penultimate race.

Then a second bout of cruel luck hit Poole as the pressure got to Bjarne Pedersen and he nudged into the tapes before they went up.

Poole team manager Neil Middleditch elected to send the Dane, with two heat wins already under his belt, out from a 15 metres handicap in the re-run rather than use reserve Ben Wilson, who’d impressed to grab eight points, from the gate.

Steve Boxall had to get out in front of at least one Bees rider, but he was unable to head Edward Kennett and Ben Barker into the first bend.

Boxall pushed Barker hard for second place for all four laps, but just couldn’t find a way past.

And travelling Pirates fans will never know if Pedersen could have found a route past Barker either as Boxall was never really in a position to let his own team-mate safely past into third.

Coventry’s gift 5-1 meant they led for the first time, 42-41 going into the final race.

Andersen got out in front, with Holder briefly in second, but Kennett stormed outside the Dane on the second corner to roar on to victory and seal an unlikely Bees’ triumph.

Harris also got past Holder on the first lap as Coventry’s 4-2 completed Poole’s misery.

Pirates will still be wondering how they managed to throw this one away after being in such a commanding position, and the one league point they picked up was scant consolation for a performance that really deserved the maximum four away points.

Play-off chasing Coventry, and their fans, couldn’t believe their good fortune. They really did get out of jail.

Buccaneers spearhead Jay Herne won the National League Bronze Helmet at Weymouth tonight with Barrie Evans runner-up. Herne leads Bournemouth Castle Cover at Plymouth in the cup, semi-final, first leg tomorrow night (7.30pm).

Plymouth: 1 Mark Simmonds, 2 Paul Starke, 3 Seemond Stephens, 4 Matt Bates, 5 Kyle Hughes, 6 Richard Andrews, 7 David Gough.

Buccaneers: 1 Jay Herne, 2 Andrew Aldridge, 3 Kyle Newman, 4 Mark Baseby, 5 Danny Warwick, 6 Aaron Baseby, 7 Jerran Hart.

HEAT DETAILS

Coventry 46: 1 Chris Harris (1-3-2-2-1) 9, 2 Filip Sitera (0-0-2-1*) 3+1, 3 Oliver Allen (3-1*-0-3) 7+1, 4 Edward Kennett (2*-2-3-3-3) 13+1, 5 Martin Smolinski (2-1*-0-1*) 4+2, 6 Ben Barker (exc unfair riding-2-0-2-2*) 6+1, 7 Ricky Wells (2-0-2*) 4+1. Team managers: Peter Oakes and Colin Pratt.

Pirates 43: 1 Hans Andersen (3-3-3-3-2) 14, 2 Joe Screen (2*-0-3-1) 6+1, 3 Daniel Davidsson (exc two mins-0-fell-1) 1, 4 Bjarne Pedersen (0-3-3-0) 6, 5 Chris Holder (3-1*-1*-fell exc-0) 5+2, 6 Ben Wilson (3-1-2-2-fell) 8, 7 Steve Boxall (exc-1-1-1) 3. Team manager: Neil Middleditch.

Referee: Jim Lawrence.

Match points: Coventry 2 Pirates 1.

Ht 1: Andersen, Screen, Harris, Sitera, 60.5 (1-5).

Ht 2: (re-run) Wilson, Wells, Barker (excluded unfair riding), Boxall (excluded, not under power), 63.6 (3-8).

Ht 3: Allen, Kennett, Wilson, Pedersen, Davidsson (excluded two minutes), 63.1 (8-9).

Ht 4: Holder, Smolinski, Boxall, Wells, 62.1 (10-13).

Ht 5: (re-run) Andersen, Kennett, Allen, Screen, 61.8 (13-16).

Ht 6: Harris, Wilson, Holder, Sitera, 62.6 (16-19).

Ht 7: Pedersen, Barker, Smolinski, Davidsson, 63.2 (19-22).

Ht 8: Screen, Sitera, Boxall, Barker, 63.7 (21-26).

Ht 9: Kennett, Wilson, Holder, Allen, 62.7 (24-29).

Ht 10: Pedersen, Harris, Sitera, Davidsson (fell), 62.9 (27-32).

Ht 11: Andersen, Barker, Screen, Smolinski, 62.6 (29-36).

Ht 12: Allen, Wells, Davidsson, Wilson (fell, remounted, fell), 64.1 (34-37).

Ht 13: (re-run) Andersen, Harris, Smolinski, Holder (fell excluded), 62.9 (37-40).

Ht 14: (re-run) Kennett, Barker, Boxall, Pedersen (tapes offence, re-started off 15 metres handicap), 64.5 (42-41).

Ht 15: Kennett, Andersen, Harris, Holder, 62.5 (46-43).

Tonight’s other results, National League Knockout Cup, quarter-final, first leg: Scunthorpe 43 King’s Lynn 47.

Weymouth: National League Bronze Helmet: 1 Jay Herne, 2 Barrie Evans.

Fixtures, tomorrow night, National League KO Cup, semi-final, first leg: Plymouth v Buccaneers.

National League: Rye v IoW.