DANNY Ford admits the delayed Jubilee League final has “not been an ideal situation”, but is eager to end the season in style with a date now in the diary.

Poole are set to round-off their season on Wednesday, October 25 when they welcome Leicester Lions to Wimborne Road for the showpiece event of the delayed 2022 event (7.30pm).

Pirates booked their spot in the final way back in August 2022.

The Championship Jubilee League was originally due to be a unique three-team final, between Poole, Leicester and fellow group winners Glasgow Tigers.

However, with wet weather causing delays, Glasgow eventually withdrew from the competition in October 2022.

Poole and Leicester had planned dates on multiple occasions across the end of last season and start of 2023 to fit in the two-legged affair, before it was moved to the back-burner again.

Many fans thought time would run out this year to fit it in, but it has now been confirmed it will be run as a one-off meeting at Wimborne Road next week.

The situation has been further complicated this year by Leicester no longer being a Championship club, having moved up to the Premiership.

They will instead build a team to the Championship 40-point average limit to face Poole.

“It’s not been an ideal situation, I’ll be honest,” promoter Ford told the Daily Echo.

“I don’t want to put too much of the emphasis on Leicester, but it’s been hard getting dates from them and commitments towards this competition.

“Obviously their mind has been on the Premiership all season and then going to the National League. Even this weekend they had their National League grand final rained off.

“So I appreciate from their point of view things have been difficult. They’ve got two teams going on there.

“But it was always our intention and our commitment to our supporters that we were going to do this. I’ve been saying that, people have been laughing at me when I’ve been saying it!

“But, weather-permitting, on the 25th, we’ll finally be seeing that final which we qualified for last year.”

He added: “It dragged on a fair bit. I know it’s hard to say and people won’t see it, but we’ve been doing everything we can.

“This is probably the sixth or seventh date we’ve offered to Leicester and hopefully come the 25th we’re finally getting it over the line.

“It’s another piece of silverware on the line and we love silverware at Poole, so hopefully it’s one we can win as well.”

Discussing the type of Leicester side he expects to face, Ford said: “They can pick track specialists, so I’m sure there will be a fair few of them.

“Hopefully they’ve all got ties to Leicester, whether they rode for them this year or last year and it’s a very Leicester-based team. That’s what we’re looking for.

“I don’t think there’s too much pressure on this meeting.

“Hopefully we just see some great racing and bring the season to a close with more silverware at Wimborne Road.

“But also everyone feeling very fulfilled with a good night’s speedway.”