DANNY Ford admits Poole Pirates captain Danny King is "struggling for his home form" after another below-par display against Leicester.

King, who moved up to Pirates' number one spot ahead of Steve Worrall at the start of May, has found the going tough, by his own lofty standards, in Poole's past two meetings at Wimborne Road.

He totalled eight from four rides in the 49-41 victory over Edinburgh Monarchs, before scoring just four from the same number of outings as Pirates crashed to a 47-43 home loss to Leicester Lions.

"Danny had a little bit of a tough one," admitted Pirates promoter Ford.

"He’s just been struggling for his home form a little bit at the minute.

"I think it’s machinery more than anything because Danny is a great rider."

Reflecting on the loss to Leicester, Ford added: "I was very confident. I felt that if we ran that fixture back again, we would actually beat them.

"But I think a few things went against us on the night."

King will have a chance to get back among the points when Poole head to Scunthorpe Scorpions in the Championship on Friday (7.30pm).