MATT Ford admits Bank Holiday Monday was one of his toughest days at the helm of Poole and hopes his team will bounce back against Belle Vue tonight (7.30pm).

Pirates' ambitions of finishing top of the Elite League during the regular season suffered a significant body blow when they emerged with nothing to show from trips to the Aces and lowly Leicester.

The Wimborne Road side take on Belle Vue again tonight – this time on home shale – and Ford insists another difficult challenge lies ahead.

He said: "Monday was probably one of the worst days in my term as promoter as far as results were concerned.

"I had set a target and we didn't get anywhere near it. We could argue there were mitigating circumstances but that is part and parcel of speedway and I am not going to dwell on it.

"It has happened now and we can only move on and while there would be no better confidence filip than to beat the league leaders, the presence of Belle Vue makes it a really stern test.

"Thursday is an important meeting not only because we need to put points on the board but also psychologically.

"Their tails will be up. They have won here already this year and that will be a spur to them but we have pride and passion to ride for and I am hoping that will come to the fore."

The Aces have named an unchanged line-up but Poole will be without skipper Hans Andersen, who suffered a broken finger and a head injury at Leicester. Krzysztof Kasprzak will guest in his absence.

Chris Holder is expected to be fit after pulling out of the clash with the Lions due to toothache and a migraine.

Ford was speaking to the club website.

Pirates: (from) Krzysztof Buczkowski, Adam Ellis, Chris Holder, Krzysztof Kasprzak (guest), Brady Kurtz, Kyle Newman, Bjarne Pedersen. Team manager: Neil Middleditch.

Belle Vue: (from) Craig Cook, Max Fricke, Scott Nicholls, Steve Worrall, Matej Zagar, Joe Jacobs, Richie Worrall. Team manager: Mark Lemon.