NEIL Middleditch insisted promoter Matt Ford had again proved his greatness after steering Pirates from the brink of humiliation to the SGB Premiership play-offs.

Just two months ago, Poole were bottom of the standings and disquiet was growing among fans with riders misfiring and a top-four spot seemingly slipping away in the club’s 70th anniversary year.

However, Ford’s swoops for Chris Harris and Frederik Jakobsen paid dividends and, assisted by an improvement from the whole septet, Pirates quickly became a major player in the title race.

Pirates’ berth was formally confirmed last night when Wolverhampton lost at home to King’s Lynn, meaning the Dorset club have reached the play-offs 16 times in 20 seasons with Ford at the helm, either as sole or co-promoter, with an eighth league title under his charge still up for grabs.

“It’s a pretty enviable record,” team boss Middleditch told the Daily Echo ahead of tomorrow’s home clash with Wolverhampton (7.30pm).

“Lesser promoters may have thrown the towel in halfway through the season but Matt certainly didn’t.

“He will wield the axe when he needs to. Riders’ team places aren’t safe because Matt is in the business of winning and putting a good team in front of the crowd.

“Taking the club into the play-offs is the measure of a great promoter, which Matt is. He has done it time and again.

“We make the changes which need to be made. With certain riders such as James Shanes, people disliked the decision but it’s nothing personal.

“Matt has to do what he feels is right for the club. The crowd want a winning team and it costs us some riders but that is the name of the game.

“We’ve used a lot of riders this year and some people might say that’s disgraceful but it’s not because it’s the sign of a promoter trying to give his crowd the winning team they demand.

“We don’t have the Jason Doyle or Robert Lambert effect in our team so what we need to do is fire together.

“When we do that, we are very dangerous but we cannot afford to be carrying passengers. That’s going to be the crucial thing going into the play-offs.

“Whoever picks us, pick us at your peril. I still feel we are capable of winning on the night.”

Middleditch admits the fixture against Wolverhampton is in some ways academic, given a play-off spot is already in the bag.

However, the 61-year-old revealed how the final regular-season meeting of the season would provide a useful opportunity to fine-tune the Wimborne Road circuit.

Asked if the meeting was a dead rubber, Middleditch said: “It is and it isn’t. We are, hopefully, getting a bit of work done on the track to make it suit us.

“We have been winning but the boys feel the track needs a bit of tweaking.

“We’ve had a word with the track curator, who has been off for the past couple of weeks, and, hopefully, we can get the track more to our liking.”