NEIL Middleditch believes Pirates should just forget about their “horrible” 2009 Elite League campaign and look ahead to building a title-challenging team for next year.

Poole Castle Cover only avoided their first wooden spoon since 1997 when Belle Vue lost their final match against Ipswich.

With his side safe from relegation, Pirates team manager Middleditch said: “It’s been a horrible year for us, but we’ll bounce back in 2010.

“We’re bringing riders in as guests for the challenges against Ipswich and Eastbourne.

“We’ve got Magnus Zetterstrom, Matej Kus and Polish duo Artur Mroczka and Dawid Lampart at home against Witches next week, so we’re already looking at building a team for next year.

“We just have to see what the points limit is and go from there.

“You can’t dwell on the past. You have to look ahead.

“We’ve had so many successful seasons at Poole, and next season we start from scratch again.

“Look at Wolves. They finished bottom last year and now they’re in the title play-off final against Swindon. Hopefully we can do the same and it’s us in the title play-offs in 2010.”

Middleditch added: “I’m pleased for our fans we didn’t finish bottom because I don’t think we deserved to be there.

“We had a lot of misfortune, injuries and everything.

“Our supporters showed great patience and understanding to stick behind us for the whole campaign.

“They never gave up on us and played a big part in us not finishing bottom.

“What they can see is that Matt (Ford), myself and Giles (Hartwell) have never given up trying to get off the bottom.

“We tried to bring new riders in that would improve the side. The fans can see we didn’t sit back and think ‘we’re going to finish bottom’, we never stopped trying to win matches.

“The effort the boys made near the end of the season paid off. Those last few meetings helped turn the corner, particularly that win at Eastbourne.

“It was crucial to us not slipping into the play-off.”

Hans Andersen, Joe Screen and Steve Boxall will complete Poole’s team against Witches next Wednesday as promoter Ford focuses on 2010.

But Pirates’ chief, still undecided whether he’ll run in the top flight next year, has ruled out a return for club asset Antonio Lindback if the Dorset club do line up in the Elite.

Ford says the Swede, who may get a Grand Prix recall via a permanent wild card, has “other commitments.”

Buccaneers bosses Garry May and Neil Vatcher go up against each other when they manage Great Britain and Australasia, respectively, in an under-21 international at Wimborne Road tonight (7.30pm).

Great Britain: Craig Cook, Daniel Halsey, Kyle Hughes, Jerran Hart, Simon Lambert, Tim Webster, Kyle Newman.

Australasia: Justin Sedgmen, Grant Tregoning, Andrew Aldridge, Arlo Bugeja, Shelby Rutherford, Taylor Poole and rider replacement for Jay Herne.