PIRATES team manager Neil Middleditch hailed the performance of star Brady Kurtz and insisted: “He looks absolutely world class.”

The Aussie charger recorded 13 paid 14 as Pirates produced a remarkable 49-41 comeback victory at King’s Lynn on Monday.

Kurtz twice got the better of British champion Robert Lambert at Adrian Flux Arena as the Dorset club kept alive their hopes of progressing to the final of the Supporters’ cup.

Middleditch told the Daily Echo: “Brady is absolutely on fire at the moment – he looks absolutely world class.

“Robert Lambert got three straight wins but then Brady beat him twice.

“But everybody played their part – it was a good performance and we are a team where everybody has to perform and I think we did that.

“We never gave up and the boys were as chuffed as anybody to come away with the points – it’s a long way to come to go home with none.”

Victory put Poole third in the southern group of the competition, one point behind Swindon and Ipswich with the winners progressing to a two-legged final.

Also reacting to the victory, co-promoter Danny Ford added: “I thought the 45-45 draw after being 16 points down at Belle Vue was some comeback but this topped that.

“We certainly do make life difficult for ourselves but to overturn a 12-point deficit against the likes of Robert Lambert and Michael Palm Toft in that form was something really special.

“Having Brady, Nicolai and Neil Middleditch back in the pits after they missed the Ipswich meeting on Thursday had a huge impact, not just in terms of those two riders’ scores but also the team spirit.

“We’ve given ourselves a real chance of progressing in the competition now when it looked so unlikely halfway through this meeting.

“But we’ll need a big performance at home to King’s Lynn in our final group meeting on June 13, as they have beaten us once already this year on our own track.”