MATT Ford hopes Nicolai Klindt's imminent return to Wimborne Road will help Pirates profit from their poor start to the season.

Club asset Klindt, who starred for Poole last season prior to sustaining a serious knee injury, will resume his place in the septet for the home clash with King's Lynn on Wednesday, June 13.

Paul Starke is due to replace broken leg victim Stefan Nielsen for tomorrow's trip to Wolverhampton (8pm) and Wednesday's home fixture with Leicester after Josh Auty was ruled out of a short-term switch by average complications.

The 5.78-rated Klindt will then take over from Starke, the popular Dane likely to prove a key player in Poole's bid to climb towards the SGB Premiership play-off spots.

News of Ford's interest in Klindt was exclusively revealed by the Daily Echo on Thursday and the Pirates chief told the Daily Echo: “Nicolai is a winner who will come in and do his utmost. He had a good campaign with us last year until he got injured.

“I feel that injury was the catalyst for us becoming also-rans. He was riding very well at that time and was showing real commitment.

“He is a very likeable lad and very popular with the fans, so I think it is a move which will go down well.

“It has been an unsettled position in the team and due to the change in the averages we have gone from James Shanes to Stefan Nielsen to Paul Starke to Nicolai.

“If we could have had Nicolai in from the start of the season, we could have been a different team but the averages would not have allowed it at that point.

“Due to us not hitting form as we should have done, we can take advantage of it. I’ve had to be patient and now we can benefit from the fact we have not been at the top of our game."

Ford has not ruled out the prospect of a further change next month but wants to give his current line-up the chance to hit form.

He said: “Options are open to us. Because we aren’t riding until June 13, I have time to secure the services of another rider.

“I have been in touch with a couple of riders but I am not making a knee-jerk reaction and believe the seven who are representing us from June onwards are more than capable of holding their own.

“We will be power-packed from one to seven until the end of the season."

Wolverhampton: (from) Jacob Thorssell, Kyle Howarth, Cameron Heeps, Sam Masters, Rory Schlein, Nathan Greaves, Ashley Morris.

Pirates: (from) Brady Kurtz, Kacper Woryna, Josh Grajczonek, Linus Sundstrom, Richie Worrall, Mateusz Szczepaniak, Paul Starke.