DANNY Ford has called on Poole Pirates to "keep that first leg close" ahead of tomorrow's Knockout Cup final opener at "bogey track" Edinburgh.

The Monarchs are set to welcome Poole to Armadale tomorrow afternoon (2.30pm), having stunningly overturned a 16-point semi-final deficit to defeat rivals Glasgow Tigers 92-88 on aggregate.

The second leg of the final is then due to take place at Wimborne Road on Wednesday evening (7.30pm).

Edinburgh finished fifth in the regular season Championship table, 16 points off table-topping Pirates.

However, having only lost twice around Armadale in the league all year, as well as claiming a losing bonus point at Wimborne Road in August, the Monarchs could pose Pirates some problems.

Looking ahead to the final, having impressively dispatched of Leicester Lions in the semis, Pirates promoter Ford told the Daily Echo: "We’re not going to get ahead of ourselves. We know that we’ve got really, really tough fixtures against Edinburgh.

"We’re under no illusions they’re going to be tough fixtures.

"Edinburgh have pushed us closer at home than anyone has this season.

"They’re the only team that took a point away from us in the league. So we know they can ride ours particularly well.

"Edinburgh’s a very difficult track to go to. It’s a bit of a bogey track.

"We won there in the season (50-40), but you can easily go there and lose by double figures.

"So we’ll be looking to keep that first leg close and then, hopefully, celebrate in style at Poole in the second leg of the cup."

Pirates are again without the injured Stefan Nielsen and have drafted in Glasgow's Connor Bailey as a guest, with Gary Havelock set to step into team management duties.

Pirates: Steve Worrall, Danyon Hume, Rory Schlein, Ben Cook, Danny King, Connor Bailey (guest), Benjamin Basso.

Edinburgh: Sam Masters, Anders Rowe, Kye Thomson, Josh Pickering, Richie Worrall, Drew Kemp, Jason Edwards (guest).