TEAM manager Neil Middleditch admitted Pirates needed to “start making some progress” after they had suffered another setback in their tough opening to the season.

Poole left Norfolk Arena with nothing to show for their efforts last night as their hopes of claiming an away league point were ended in heat 15.

Despite hosts King’s Lynn being depleted by injuries to Simon Stead and Mads Korneliussen, they still had too much for Pirates. Big-hitting reserve duo Seb Alden (12+2) and new recruit Richie Worrall (9+2), together with number one Niels-Kristian Iversen (13+1), played major roles for the Stars.

And although Maciej Janowski (11) and Rohan Tungate (7+1) performed strongly, Darcy Ward scored just 7+1 and Dennis Andersson (0) and Dawid Stachyra (1+1) left Pirates badly lacking in the middle order.

Poole have now lost three of their opening four Elite League matches and boss Middleditch wants more from his riders.

He told the Daily Echo: “We do need to start making some progress. We have Eastbourne on Saturday and Belle Vue on Monday and we have got to get something out of those meetings.”

However, Middleditch felt Pirates had “deserved a point” from the Sky Sports-televised clash with the Stars.

Pirates were left chasing the game after enduring a nightmare start when Iversen and Alden condemned Ward to a 5-1 in the opener. In-form Alden took the second race before Chris Holder got Pirates off the mark.

The impressive Janowski and Tungate sandwiched Rory Schlein to reduce the deficit before Ward was defeated by Korneliussen as the showdown continued to be closely fought.

Janowski, demonstrating his liking for the track following his spell with the Stars, saw off Alden and Iversen to add another three-pointer to his name.

But with Ward already the victim of a 5-1, Pirates’ other Grand Prix star Holder was hit by a maximum as the world champion was beaten by Schlein and Worrall.

Trailing 24-18, Pirates clearly had their work cut out as the Stars were beginning to show why many see them as genuine title contenders.

But Tungate kept the Dorset outfit in the mix with a fine effort to win an eventful eighth race after Stachyra had been excluded and Korneliussen had sustained a shoulder injury.

Janowski was Poole’s leading light and he completed his hat-trick in race nine but Holder was then defeated by Iversen, with Alden getting the better of struggling Andersson to put the hosts 34-26 ahead.

Ward got his first win before Holder and Howarth combined to register a rare Poole heat advantage to set up an intriguing finale at 39-33.

But Janowski was finally led to the chequered flag as Iversen took a shared heat 13 and, although Tungate and Howarth again did their jobs at reserve in race 14, Iversen and Schlein did enough to deny Pirates a consolation point.

 

RIDER SCORES AND HEAT DETAILS

Stars 49: 1 Niels-Kristian Iversen (3-1*-3-3-3) 13+1, 2 Rider Replacement for Simon Stead, 3 Mads Korneliussen (2-3) 5, 4 Nicolai Klindt (1*-0-1*-0) 2+2, 5 Rory Schlein (2-3-2-r-1) 8, 6 Seb Alden (2*-3-2-1*-1-f-3) 12+2, 7 Richie Worrall (0-0-2*-2-2-1*-2) 9+2. Team manager: Rob Lyon.

Pirates 41: 1 Darcy Ward (1-2-3-1*) 7+1, 2 Dawid Stachyra (0-1*-fx) 1+1, 3 Chris Holder (3-1-2-3-2) 11, 4 Dennis Andersson (0-0-0) 0, 5 Maciej Janowski (3-3-3-2-0) 11, 6 Kyle Howarth (2-0-0-1-1*) 4+1, 7 Rohan Tungate (1*-1-3-fx-2) 7+1. Team manager: Neil Middleditch.

League points: King’s Lynn Stars 3 Poole Pirates 0.

Ht 1: Iversen, Alden, Ward, Stachyra (5-1)

Ht 2: Alden, Howarth, Tungate, Worrall (8-4)

Ht 3: Holder, Korneliussen, Klindt, Andersson (11-7)

Ht 4: Janowski, Schlein, Tungate, Worrall (13-11)

Ht 5: Korneliussen, Ward, Stachyra, Klindt (16-14)

Ht 6: Janowski, Alden, Iversen, Howarth (19-17)

Ht 7: Schlein, Worrall, Holder, Andersson (24-18)

Ht 8: Tungate, Worrall, Alden, Stachyra (fell, excluded) (27-21)

Ht 9: Janowski, Worrall, Klindt, Howarth (30-24)

Ht 10: Iversen, Holder, Alden, Andersson (34-26)

Ht 11: Ward, Schlein, Worrall, Tungate (fell, excluded) (37-29)

Ht 12: Holder, Worrall, Howarth, Alden (fell) (39-33)

Ht 13: Iversen, Janowski, Ward, Schlein (retired) (42-36)

Ht 14: Alden, Tungate, Howarth, Klindt (45-39)

Ht 15: Iversen, Holder, Schlein, Janowski (49-41)