WITH friends like Davey Watt, Pirates do not need any enemies at the moment.

Lakeside’s Poole-based skipper returned to haunt his former club on another night to forget for the injury-ridden and down on their luck Dorset outfit.

A popular figure among the Wimborne Road faithful, Watt would probably have spared a thought for the Pirates die-hards, despite playing a starring role in their 49-45 demise.

Lakeside played their trump card in heat seven when a desperate throw of the dice saw them put out Watt on a tactical ride in an attempt to eat into a 10-point deficit.

It proved both a masterstroke and turning point, his comfortable victory over Maciej Janowski and Kyle Howarth halving the deficit in one fell swoop.

Watt followed up by leading home team-mate Lewis Bridger in heat 10, their maximum giving the visitors the advantage for the first time on the night.

And just as Pirates scented a comeback, Watt snuffed them out by racing to his third win of the night in the penultimate heat, leaving the hosts with a mountain to climb.

They looked set to scale it when skipper Chris Holder and Janowski got out in front of Peter Karlsson and Watt, putting Pirates on the maximum they needed to secure victory.

However, disaster struck when Janowski took a tumble on the second lap, the Pole crashing out and Pirates slumping to another dispiriting defeat.

Beginning tonight at Peterborough, Pirates could do with a change in fortunes before their season threatens to end only weeks after it had started in a blaze of optimism.

Already a sizeable gap stands between them and the top three with a place in the play-offs now looking even further away.

While back-to-back wins eluded Pirates, so did a milestone 1,100th league victory. The fact they brought up their 90,000th league point would have been small comfort to Poole followers.

The stats make for damning reading.

Last season, Pirates won their first 11 league meetings and were unbeaten in their opening 13. Their first defeat came at King’s Lynn at the end of June and they lost only four times all season.

By the second week of May this term, defeat at the hands of Lakeside saw Pirates match last season’s total of league reverses. They also beat the Hammers on no fewer than six occasions in 2012, including registering their biggest win of season in the second leg of the play-off final.

There was no hint of the despair which would follow as Pirates raced into an eight-point lead after four heats and 10 ahead after six.

Peter Karlsson led Pirates pair Hans Andersen and Dawid Stachyra a merry dance in the opening heat before reserves Rohan Tungate and Kyle Howarth hit back to slam the door on Richard Lawson and Robert Mear to register a maximum in the next.

Chris Holder made light work of seeing off Watt and Lewis Bridger in heat three, with Dennis Andersson trailing in a distant last.

Another 5-1 from Janowski and Rohan Tungate saw Pirates forge 16-8 ahead and, although Holder gated well in heat five, Karlsson slipped past the world champion to lower his colours for the only time on the night in heat five.

Guest Andersen, back at the track where he began his UK career, showed his liking for the Wimborne Road raceway when he eased to a comfortable victory in heat six as Pirates romped 10 points clear.

However, the tide started to turn when Watt came out for his tactical ride in heat seven and delivered in style to halve the deficit.

Tungate was added to Pirates’ lengthening casualty list after he had taken a nasty fall in heat eight, the Aussie ruled out of the rest of the meeting by a groin injury.

Although Holder easily saw off Piotr Swiderski in heat nine, Watt and Bridger saw off Dawid Stachyra and Andersen to give Hammers the lead for the first time in the next.

Matters went from bad to worse when Kim Nilsson and Karlsson combined for a second successive 5-1 before Howarth raised the roof at Wimborne Road when he partnered Holder to a splendid maximum in one of the best heats seen in many a year.

Karlsson again proved Pirates’ nemesis in heat 13 before Watt brought up his hat-trick of wins to keep Hammers three points ahead going into the last.

And, in common with their season so far, it all fell flat for the hosts when Janowski went to ground in the final heat with victory in sight.

Pirates 45: 1 Hans Andersen (2-3-0-1*) 6+1, 2 Dawid Stachyra (1*-1-1-1) 4+1, 3 Chris Holder (3-2-3-3-3) 14, 4 Dennis Andersson (0-1*-1-0) 2+1, 5 Maciej Janowski (3-2-1-2-rtd) 8, 6 Kyle Howarth (2*-0-0-2*-2) 6+2, 7 Rohan Tungate (3-2*-0) 5+1. Team manager: Neil Middleditch.

Lakeside 48: 1 Peter Karlsson (3-3-2*-3-2) 13+1, 2 Kim Nilsson (0-0-3-3) 6, 3 Lewis Bridger (1*-1-2*-1) 5+2, 4 Davey Watt (2-6-3-3-1*) 15+1, 5 Piotr Swiderski (1-2-2-0) 5, 6 Robert Mear (0-0-0) 0, 7 Richard Lawson (1-0-2-0-1*) 4. Team manager: Neil Vatcher.

Referee: Dale Entwhistle.

Ht 1: Karlsson, Andersen, Stachyra, Nilsson, 60.44 (3-3) Ht 2: Tungate, Howarth, Lawson, Mear, 61.44 (8-4) Ht 3: Holder, Watt, Bridger, Andersson, 59.94 (11-7) Ht 4: Janowski, Tungate, Swiderski, Lawson, 61.03 (16-8) Ht 5: Karlsson, Holder, Andersson, Nilsson, 60.22 (19-11) Ht 6: Andersen, Swiderski, Stachyra, Mear, 60.84 (23-13) Ht 7: Watt (t/r), Janowski, Bridger, Howarth, 60.12 (25-20) Ht 8: (re-run) Nilsson, Lawson, Stachyra, Tungate (f/x), 61.18 (26-25) Ht 9: Holder, Swiderski, Andersson, Mear, 60.65 (30-27) Ht 10: Watt, Bridger, Stachyra, Andersen, 60.19 (31-32) Ht 11: Nilsson, Karlsson, Janowski, Howarth, 60.87 (32-37) Ht 12: Holder, Howarth, Bridger, Lawson, 61.41 (37-38) Ht 13: Karlsson, Janowski, Andersen, Swiderski, 60.50 (40-41) Ht 14: Watt, Howarth, Lawson, Andersson, 61.75 (42-45) Ht 15: Holder, Karlsson, Watt, Janowski (rtd), 61.41 (45-48)