'A few people were getting on his back' – Ford keen to see Ablitt continue recent improvement

Struggling for form and points midway through the season, the teenager copped some flak when the side was under pressure.

But having improved on his two-point Championship average across Poole’s past three meetings, all ending in victory for the Dorset club, Ford is happy to see the youngster show his potential.

“I think a few people were getting on his back a month or so ago,” the Wimborne Road chief told the Daily Echo.

“He started off the season quite well. We could see improvements and then he had a little bit of a lull, a little bit of a dip in form and his confidence was probably a little low.

“But as of late he has kind of brought that back and is showing the kind of strides and improvements that we knew he was capable of.

“He’s getting in the mix and making good gates now. That’s half the battle in speedway and he’s still got to work on a few things but it’s good.

“He is there and in the mix now. He just needs to figure out the right lines to ride and be a little bit stronger sometimes.

“But there’s positive signs, hopefully he can continue on that upward trajectory.”

A fall in a run-off meant Ablitt missed out on third spot in the British Under-19 Championship last week.

He has however been judged fit for Poole’s Championship Jubilee League clash at Birmingham tomorrow (7.30pm).

Asked what it was like to deal with a young rider copping stick, Ford replied: “The problem is, is at Poole we are so used to success. When a rider is not performing, some supporters can be quite ruthless and call for team changes.

“You have got to look at the big picture sometimes. We explained Nathan was a long-term project for the Pirates. We saw him having a longer future beyond this season.

“We weren’t expecting him to come in, set the world on fire and be beating heat leaders. We were looking for him to come in and try to maintain his average.

“As of late, he has been doing it and a little more than that.”