POOLE Pirates promoter Danny Ford shared that he and his team were “gutted” following their SGB Championship Grand Final loss to Glasgow Tigers, sharing that it was a “huge failure” for the promotion.

Pirates are the most storied team in British Speedway history, their recent success adding to a rich history of competition wins.

Since deciding to drop down to the second tier of Speedway in 2020, Pirates have dominated, completing league and cup doubles in 2021 and 2022 before adding the BSN Series to their trophy cabinet this season.

Pirates can still gain further glory, with their knockout cup final with Scunthorpe set to be staged in the coming week, but Ford admitted that the season as a whole had lost a bit of shine after losing out on the league title.

Speaking after the second leg, Ford told the Daily Echo: “That is our first competition loss since dropping down and we're absolutely gutted.

“You know, we're not used to failure here and that was a huge failure for us.

“You know, it puts a whole downer on the whole season, even though we can still win two out of three trophies.

“But this is the big one. This is the one we wanted to win and we wanted to retain our title, but it just wasn't to be.

“Glasgow were the better team.”