PIRATES promoter Danny Ford confirmed the club would be using a trio of guests to cover for the injured Stefan Nielsen, in a season-defining week for the club.

Poole go into the first leg of their SGB Championship play-off final at Glasgow tomorrow (7.30pm), with Birmingham’s Jack Thomas set to step in at reserve.

Leicester’s Zaine Kennedy will then be added to the septet for Wednesday’s Championship Knockout Cup second-leg clash against Edinburgh at Wimborne Road.

And Aussie Zach Cook, who has wowed the Poole crowds in recent weeks, has been drafted in as cover for the league play-off second-leg clash with Glasgow at Wimborne Road on Friday.

Quizzed on who would replace the injured Nielsen, Ford told the Daily Echo: “At Glasgow on Tuesday we have Jack Thomas, who rides for Birmingham.

“He scored really well when he went there with them.

“He has got a new engine, which he thinks is suited to that place very well.

“On Wednesday in the cup final we have got Zaine Kennedy, who rides for Leicester. On Friday in the big one we have Zach Cook.”

Poole have been forced to run guests in the absence of the injured Nielsen, since the Pirates star suffered a nasty crash at Birmingham last month.

“It’s been really tough to plan guests this year,” said Ford.

“If you are in the play-offs, you can’t use a guest from another team which has been in the play-offs – even if they were knocked out at an earlier stage.

“It’s taken a little bit of planning. You have to look at form and who rides each track well.

“We have been fortunate to use Zaine Kennedy on Wednesday because him riding for Leicester, we can still use him in the cup competition outside of the play-offs.

“We needed to use Zach Cook in the most important fixture we could. There’s a seven-day rule where you can’t use the same guest at the same track within seven days.

“We know how strong Zach is at Poole, we’ve seen that in his previous guesting performances so we are saving him for the big one.”