TEAM manager Neil Middleditch emerged from the wreckage of Pirates’ incident-packed defeat at Coventry on Monday and said: “I’d never seen anything like it.”

Title-chasing Pirates endured a torturous night at Brandon as no fewer than three riders withdrew from the Elite League clash after succumbing to injury.

Darcy Ward, Jason Doyle and Kyle Newman were all forced out of the Sky Sports-televised showdown, leaving Pirates to complete the contest with just four riders.

And despite their catalogue of misfortune, the Dorset outfit heroically remained in the hunt for a draw until the Bees clinched a 49-42 victory in the final two heats.

Doyle was the first name on the casualty list after he took a heavy tumble in heat three before Newman followed suit in the next when he fell and twisted his knee.

To compound Pirates’ problems, Ward, who had tried to ride through a groin complaint, was thrown from his machine in heat nine and sustained damage to his hip.

Doyle, who suffered grade two concussion, was taken to hospital but not detained overnight, although will not feature against Lakeside tonight.

Newman, who hurt ligaments in his knee, and Ward, who had a series of X-rays on his knee and hip, have both been ruled out for at least a fortnight Middleditch told the Daily Echo: “It was absolute carnage and, in all my years in speedway, I had never seen anything like it. It was just unbelievable.

“It wasn’t as if you could have blamed the track. It was just one of those things and was down to racing incidents and being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“We have got to close ranks now because I’m sure Lakeside would have been watching and thinking we are going to be vulnerable. We have got to get together and get the crowd behind us to help us through the meeting.”

Gary Havelock comes in for Doyle against the Hammers tonight, while Ford will use rider replacement to cover for Ward.

Russian Ilya Bondarenko, who rides for Leicester in the Premier League, makes his Pirates debut in place of Newman at reserve.

Pirates: 1 Chris Holder, 2 Dennis Andersson 3 Davey Watt, 4 Gary Havelock, 5 Rider Replacement for Darcy Ward, 6 Renat Gafurov, 7 Ilya Bondarenko.

Hammers: 1 Lee Richardson, 2 Kauko Nieminen, 3 Peter Ljung, 4 Rider Replacement for Adam Shields, 5 Piotr Swiderski, 6 Robert Mear, 7 Kim Nilsson.