Bjarne Pedersen insists Pirates are still in with a genuine shout of lifting the Elite League title after leading their ‘backs-to-the-wall’ fight in the first leg at Coventry last night.

The runaway table-toppers fell to a 51-39 defeat on a quagmire of a Brandon circuit that had been saturated by rain.

It could have been a lot worse for Poole Castle Cover though.

They trailed 21-9 after five races when their title challenge looked almost dead and buried.

A 20-point reverse looked very much on the cards at that stage, which would have all but sealed Bees’ the title ahead of the Wimborne Road second leg on October 4. But Pirates didn’t go into the final as title favourites for no reason.

Pedersen led the way as they matched Bees blow for blow over the last 10 heats of a heavyweight contest held on a treacherously deep and heavy track surface.

Many thanks must go to the Dane that the Dorset club are still in with a chance of lifting their fourth title in eight years.

He stayed focused while all around him appeared to lose their way, reeling off three race wins and two seconds to keep Poole in the tie.

Pedersen, who led Krzysztof Kasprzak in the heat 15 second re-run only for the Pole to pass outside him on the second bend, said: “I only made one mistake tonight. That was heat 15 on the first corner.

“We got through my first four races really well and then made that mistake, but I’m still pleased with 15.”

Pedersen, also beaten by KK in race 10, added: “We’re 12 behind, but it could’ve been worse.

“We’ve knocked in some great scores at home though and Darcy (Ward) won’t score one next week.

“Coventry being 12 in front is probably very exciting for the fans. But it’s still possible for us to win overall.

“We’ve beaten teams at Poole by 30 so hopefully we can get things back to normal next week. Some of our boys were struggling, but we still worked hard as a team and were fighting for every point.

“It wasn’t the score we wanted but we can still win overall.”

Pirates will feel aggrieved most of the decisions referee Daniel Holt was called to make went against them.

Ward was clearly nudged off his bike by Richard Sweetman’s dirt deflector in heat one and Chris Holder also suffered the same fate, exclusion, when Kasprzak’s dirt deflector toppled him in race 15.

Another key moment came in heat eight when tactical man Ward fell on the third turn chasing Przemyslaw Pawlicki hard for first on lap three with Poole on a 5-3, which became a 4-2 to Coventry.

Ben Barker staying down, forcing a race 12 re-run, riled Pirates’ fans in a bumper 4,000 crowd and probably cost them two more points.

Only when Holt correctly called that Chris Harris had brought down Pedersen from the back in heat 15 did Poole get some respite. It was Pirates’ first play-off final reverse in seven meetings and their second biggest defeat of the season.

With Jason Doyle falling heavily on a shoulder that had recently been dislocated, the Dorset side are really up against it going into the second leg next Monday.

Coventry 51: 1 Krzysztof Kasprzak (3-2-3-fell exc-3) 11, 2 Richard Sweetman (1-1*-1) 3+1, 3 Ben Barker (fell-3-0-fell exc) 3, 4 Edward Kennett (2-2*-2-1*) 7+2, 5 Chris Harris (2*-2-1*-3-fell exc) 8+2, 6 Lewis Bridger (3-1*-1-2-2) 9+1, 7 Przemyslaw Pawlicki (2*-3-3-2) 10+1.

Team manager: Alun Rossiter.

Pirates 39: 1 Chris Holder (2-0-3-2-fell exc) 7, 2 Darcy Ward (fell exc-1-fell exc^-0) 1, 3 Artur Mroczka (1-0-0) 1, 4 Bjarne Pedersen (3-3-4^-3-2) 15, 5 Davey Watt (0-3-3-exc) 6, 6 Leon Madsen (0-0-1-3) 4, 7 Jason Doyle (1-1-2-1-fell) 5.

Team manager: Neil Middleditch.

Referee: Daniel Holt.

Ht 1: (re-run) Kasprzak, Holder, Sweetman, Ward (fell excluded), 59.3 (4-2).

Ht 2: Bridger, Pawlicki, Doyle, Madsen, 59.7 (9-3).

Ht 3: Pedersen, Kennett, Mroczka, Barker (fell), 61.6 (11-7).

Ht 4: Pawlicki, Harris, Doyle, Watt, 60.5 (16-8).

Ht 5: Barker, Kennett, Ward, Holder, 59.6 (21-9).

Ht 6: Watt, Kasprzak, Sweetman, Madsen, 59.1 (24-12).

Ht 7: Pedersen, Harris, Barker, Mroczka, 59.6 (27-15).

Ht 8: Pawlicki, Doyle, Sweetman, Ward^ (fell excluded, tactical rider), no time, awarded (31-17).

Ht 9: Watt, Kennett, Madsen, Barker, 59.2 (33-21).

Ht 10: Kasprzak, Pedersen^ (tactical rider, double points), Bridger, Mroczka, 60.2 (37-25).

Ht 11: Holder, Bridger, Harris, Ward, 58.1 (40-28).

Ht 12: (re-run) Madsen, Pawlicki, Doyle (fell remounted), Barker (fell excluded), 61.1 (42-32).

Ht 13: (re-run) Harris, Holder, Watt (excluded, not under power), Kasprzak (fell excluded), 58.6 (45-34).

Ht 14: Pedersen, Bridger, Kennett, Doyle (fell), 60.6 (48-37).

Ht 15: (2nd re-run) Kasprzak, Pedersen, Holder (fell excluded), Harris (fell excluded), 60.3 (51-39).