TEAM boss Neil Middleditch admitted “experience played a big part” at the business end of Pirates’ 45-45 draw with Plymouth – as he saw Jason Crump and Bjarne Pedersen pull the meeting out of the fire for the hosts.

The legendary duo with a combined age of 88 between them, sealed a heat 15 5-1 to deny Poole an important away SGB Championship victory.

A draw on the road gave Poole two league points in the division to Plymouth’s one, but Middleditch’s men are still looking for their first away league win of the season.

Asked about heat 15, in which Steve Worrall and Danny King were left trailing, Middleditch said: “They are very wise. Stevie was past Jason at one point but Crumpy had the measure of him and simply cut back when Steve was carrying too much speed.

“Bjarne made the start and as we all know, he’s very hard to catch. Crumpy was just wily as well, so I think experience played a big part in 15.”

He added: “We kind of let it slip away. Danny touching the tapes in one (heat) was a little bit costly for us but no complaints really.

“I was disappointed not to win but to come away with a draw, certainly makes the drive home a little bit easier for sure.

“We have a busy spell coming up and we didn’t lose. That’s the main thing. Everybody played their part in that.

“Stef (Nielsen) was a little bit unlucky perhaps, Ben (Cook) was excellent at reserve and Danyon (Hume) was good. He had an unfortunate crash, Alfie Bowtell squeezed him a little bit.

“I probably thought Danyon wasn’t to blame but the referee sees it differently. As we all know, it’s not worth me getting on the phone!”