PIRATES boss Neil Middleditch has confirmed Darcy Ward was fined £200 for “damaging the pit phone” during their controversial 51-39 play-off final defeat at Coventry.

Middleditch claimed referee Daniel Holt was unimpressed with the way the reigning world under-21 champion put the phone down on him after they spoke about Ward’s heat one exclusion.

The Aussie ace, lining up for Poole Castle Cover in his first Elite League final, threw an uncharacteristic telephone tantrum after being excluded for falling going into the first corner.

But it looked as though he had a good case for re-instatement in the re-run after TV slow motion replays clearly showed Bees rider Richard Sweetman’s dirt deflector hit Ward’s bike and caused him to fall.

It was the start of a nightmare meeting for the teenager, who slumped to his lowest score ever – one – for Pirates in 35 appearances since making his debut for them in March.

He ran a third in his second outing on a quagmire of a Brandon circuit and fell while trying to overtake Przemyslaw Pawlicki for first as a double-points tactical man in race eight.

Then Ward’s bike packed up near the starting tapes before heat 11 and, unsurprisingly, he finished last after borrowing Davey Watt’s machine.

Middleditch, whose side host Coventry in the second leg on Monday, said: “The meeting co-ordinator came to me after it had finished and told me Darcy had been fined £200 by the ref for damaging the pit phone.

“You can’t condone the fact he did that, but he’s only 18, he’s only young and still learning.

“He knows he shouldn’t have done it but it’s a high tension meeting and his enthusiasm took over.

“Darcy regretted it afterwards. It’s just one of those things.”

Middleditch, who labelled Ward’s desperate bid to dive inside Pawlicki in race eight as overzealous, added: “You can’t blame the kid for his enthusiasm.

“He wants to win every race he’s in.

“I would rather have seven riders like that than seven that don’t care about winning.

“Darcy didn’t know he’d been fined during the meeting.

“Now it will come out of his wages.”