POOLE Pirates have confirmed the dates they plan to ride in the SGB Championship grand final, with the second leg due to take place at Wimborne Road.

Pirates booked their spot in the end-of-season showpiece with a 55-35 win over Edinburgh Monarchs on Wednesday night.

Their opponents are still to be confirmed, with play-off group B set to be decided when Glasgow Tigers host Oxford Cheetahs on Tuesday night.

Oxford will qualify unless Glasgow can overhaul a 10-point deficit at Ashfield.

Pirates are seeking a third straight league title win, with their success last year confirmed on the road by beating Leicester Lions. The previous year they lifted the trophy in front of their home fans with a comeback win over Glasgow.

Pirates have confirmed they plan to run the second leg of this year’s final at Wimborne Road on Wednesday, October 11 (7.30pm).

Should their opponents be Glasgow, the first leg would be run at Ashfield on Friday, October 6 (7.30pm). If Oxford progress, the meeting would take place at Cowley on Sunday, October 8 (6.15pm).

“Being top of the league, we got the choice of which leg we wanted,” Pirates promoter Danny Ford told the Daily Echo.

“There’s nothing quite like having the second leg at home.

“We weren’t in that position last year, because we didn’t finish top of the league and we had to go away for the second leg.

“We always like to try and have the second leg at home. It finishes off the season in front of your home supporters.

“Obviously that can backfire at times, but hopefully we’ll be giving them something to celebrate.”

Discussing the potential opponents, Ford added: “Glasgow have strengthened up by bringing (Vadim) Tarasenko in. They’re looking quite strong now.

“And Oxford have been up near the top of the league for the whole season.

“So either one is going to be incredibly tough, but it’s a challenge we’re looking forward to.”

Team boss Neil Middleditch added: “We’ve performed very well at Glasgow.

“We’ve done well at Oxford in the past as well. It’s nice and handy for us to go to Oxford, but we’ll find out what happens.

“It’s looking like it’s going to be Oxford, but it’s a tough one. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

Pirates also still have a two-legged Knockout Cup final to run against either Scunthorpe Scorpions or Redcar Bears.

Poole end their play-off campaign with a dead rubber at Edinburgh tonight (7.30pm), again operating rider replacement for Anders Rowe, due to concussion protocols. Gary Havelock will take charge of the team at Armadale.