NEIL Middleditch has pledged to keep his feet firmly on the ground as the prospect of a seventh Elite League title with Pirates looms large.

Poole are locked at 46-46 with Belle Vue ahead of tonight's play-off final second leg at Wimborne Road (7.30pm), with an unprecedented third straight Elite League crown up for grabs.

And while team boss Middleditch admitted that Poole were in fine fettle ahead of the Sky-televised clash, he insisted that champagne would remain uncorked until there was cause for celebration.

He told the Daily Echo: "It's a great achievement to get to a final and when you look back at our record over the season, it's pretty damn impressive.

"I will arrive at Poole on Wednesday to get the job done and if we do that, then we can start the celebrations. But I've been in this game long enough to know that this sport has a habit of coming back to bite you.

"Until we actually win it, I will keep quiet.

"Realistically, you would have to make us favourites but Belle Vue have drawn at our place already this season and are a very good team.

"They are in the final for a reason and with Scott Nicholls at number four that makes them very dangerous, particularly in the latter part of the meeting.

"I'm certainly not taking them for granted and will be getting into the boys to bring their A game to the table."

Pirates are set to finish the season with six of the seven riders that had started the league campaign and Middleditch admitted that keeping the same personnel on board had been a blessing.

He told the Daily Echo: "It has been good and it's fitting that we're in the final as a team.

"I walk down the pits and I know everybody, how they work and how they tick. As a manager it's about people management and getting into people's heads and picking them up when they are down.

"Retaining the same riders has made that job easier. Matt Ford considered changes but you have to say fair play to the boys whose places were under threat because they stepped up to the plate and now we are in the final."

Discussing Poole's draw at Kirkmanshulme Lane on Monday, in which the visitors had surrendered a 13-point lead, Middleditch added: "I've got mixed feelings because we made a very good start and let it slip.

"Realistically, I would have been okay with a four to six-point deficit and possibly eight would have been surmountable. A draw was better than I had expected but when the meeting finished, I was a bit disappointed.

"But if you had asked me whether I would take a draw before the meeting then I would have said yes."