NEIL Middleditch insisted Pirates were still desperate to win the Knockout Cup – despite saying the competition had taken a farcical turn.

Speedway chiefs this week announced Peterborough would face Poole in the last four after the Panthers had been controversially drawn out of a hat.

After the wet weather had forced Thursday’s quarter-final tie between Peterborough and Swindon to be postponed, Panthers progressed to meet Pirates after the clubs had agreed to leave their chances to luck.

British Speedway Promoters’ Association management committee member David Hoggart defended the move and insisted it was in order to try to conclude the competition by the end of October.

But some fans and pundits reacted with dismay at the outcome being decided without a wheel being turned.

Pirates team manager Middleditch told the Daily Echo: “It is a shame. You have got to appreciate the weather has been the major factor in not being able to get the fixtures on.

“It is a good competition to win but when it becomes drawing names out of a hat, it kind of makes a bit of a farce out of it.

“The weather is getting bad, you have to get the dates in and some of the boys are going to be leaving the country to go home.

“If that is the only option, I will go with it and I am not saying I am against it. If that is what we have to do, it is what we have to do.”

Middleditch added: “We have won the Knockout Cup a number of times over the years and it is certainly something we want to win.”

Hoggart said: “The weather this year has placed the sport in uncharted territory and we have had to make unprecedented decisions to maintain some sort of continuity of racing.

“This is hardly the ideal way for Swindon to go out after such a good season, but to allow a delay would put them in the position of staging three home meetings next week and place an unrealistic financial burden on their supporters.”

Pirates’ semi-final first leg is scheduled to be at Peterborough on Monday, October 22, with a second leg against the Panthers at Wimborne Road on Wednesday, October 24. The other semi-final is between Coventry and Birmingham.