STRUGGLING Pirates got a taste of what their new-look team will have to live up to as they were comprehensively beaten by a solid Swindon side with more strength in depth tonight.

Strength in depth, that was precisely what Poole Castle Cover lacked after they had made a bright start and led 15-14 following a third of the meeting.

The plucky six-man Dorset side, without injured Joe Screen who sustained a shoulder injury in a track spill in Sweden on Wednesday, were still in with a shout of picking up an away point when they only trailed 43-34 with three races to go.

But Robins, who leapfrogged Wolverhampton to go to the top of the table, finished strongly to clearly show the big gap Pirates’ new-look team will have to cross to drag themselves up into a play-off place.

At the moment, those top six play-offs look a long, long way away after Poole failed to pick up any points on their travels once more.

Pirates chief Matt Ford has promised new faces, and they could be announced as soon as today with Magnus Zetterstrom hotly tipped by many to make a Wimborne Road return along with maybe two other riders, with Scott Nicholls and Hans Andersen also believed to be strong options.

Poole, however, still have to entertain Lakeside on Wednes-day before their new-look seven will be able to go into action at Peterborough on Thursday.

The first question is ‘are bottom-of-the-table Pirates going to have enough fixtures to plug the gap between ninth and sixth?’ The second is ‘will the new riders, with the likes of Daniel Nermark, Peter Ljung, Krzysztof Buczkowski, Marcin Rempala and Billy Janniro all believed to be in the running, be able to hit the ground running and do what Ford needs them to do straight away?’ Poole’s fans will hope the answer to both questions is yes, particularly as last night’s meeting at Blunsdon was one where it was obvious Pirates were just making up the numbers, waiting to make their changes.

Chris Holder (13) and Bjarne Pedersen (10+1) were both in good form as they amassed more than half their side’s points between them.

Both bagged tactical ride wins that earned Poole 6-3s, with Ales Dryml and Tomasz Piszcz also taking the chequered flag in the Dorset side’s other two heat advantages.

The Pole’s triumph was a peculiar affair, coming after Ryan Fisher had been excluded twice in the same race in comical fashion for not meeting the two-minute time allowance.

That was after Fisher’s team-mate Krzysztof Stojanowski had fallen heavily on the fourth turn in the original running of race two and was excluded, thereby necessitating a re-run.

Piszcz and Paul Hurry eagerly grabbed the 5-0 against no opposition that gave Pirates a 6-5 lead which they stretched to 10-7 through Dryml’s win and Daniel Davidsson’s last-gasp pass of Jurica Pavlic for third on the run-in.

After that, Poole’s two tactical race wins kept their deficit down, but – with six retirements and a tapes exclusion telling a sad tale – the Dorset side didn’t deserve anything as they lost to Swindon for the first time in two years.

HEAT DETAILS

Swindon 56: 1 Leigh Adams (3-2*-2*-3) 10+2, 2 Travis McGowan (2*-3-3-3-0) 11+1, 3 Jurica Pavlic (0-3-1*-3) 7+1, 4 Troy Batchelor (2-1-2-3) 8, 5 Simon Stead (2-3-2-2*-3) 12+1, 6 Krzysztof Stojanowski (fell exc-2*-1*-2*) 5+3, 7 Ryan Fisher (exc 2 mins-1*-2*-ret) 3+2. Team manager: Alun Rossiter.

Pirates 39: 1 Bjarne Pedersen (ret-2-6^-1-1*) 10+1, 2 Ales Dryml (1-3-0-1-0) 5, 3 Rider replacement for Joe Screen, 4 Daniel Davidsson (1-ret-0-1*-ret) 2+1, 5 Chris Holder (3-1-6^-1-ret-2) 13, 6 Tomasz Piszcz (3-ret-0-exc tapes) 3, 7 Paul Hurry (2*-0-1-ret-2-1) 6+1. Team manager: Neil Middleditch.

Referee: Dave Robinson.

Ht 1: Adams, McGowan, Dryml, Pedersen (retired), 64.83 (5-1).

Ht 2: (re-run) Piszcz, Hurry, Fisher (excluded two minutes, then excluded two minutes again off a 15-metre handicap), Stojanowski (fell excluded), 68.15 (5-6).

Ht 3: Dryml, Batchelor, Davidsson, Pavlic, 66.30 (7-10).

Ht 4: Holder, Stead, Fisher, Hurry, 65.14 (10-13).

Ht 5: Pavlic, Pedersen, Batchelor, Dryml, 65.65 (14-15).

Ht 6: McGowan, Adams, Holder, Piszcz (retired), 67.78 (19-16).

Ht 7: Stead, Stojanowski, Hurry, Davidsson (retired), 67.71 (24-17).

Ht 8: McGowan, Fisher, Dryml, Hurry (retired), 67.52 (29-18).

Ht 9: Holder^ (tactical rider, double points), Batchelor, Pavlic, Piszcz, 66.21 (32-24).

Ht 10: McGowan, Adams, Holder, Davidsson, 67.87 (37-25).

Ht 11: (re-run) Pedersen^ (tactical rider, double points), Stead, Stojanowski, Dryml, 68.08 (40-31).

Ht 12: (re-run) Pavlic, Hurry, Davidsson, Fisher (fell, remounted, retired), Piszcz (excluded tapes), 68.21 (43-34).

Ht 13: Adams, Stead, Pedersen, Holder (retired), 67.49 (48-35).

Ht 14: Batchelor, Stojanowski, Hurry, Davidsson (retired), 68.18 (53-36).

Ht 15: Stead, Holder, Pedersen, McGowan, 67.99 (56-39).

Tonight’s other results, Elite League: Coventry 47 Lakeside 43, Peterborough 54 Belle Vue 39.

Fixtures, tomorrow night, Elite League: Lakeside v Eastbourne.

Monday, Elite League: Belle Vue v Peterborough, Eastbourne v Swindon, Wolves v Ipswich.

Wednesday, Elite League: Pirates v Lakeside.

Thursday, Elite League: Ipswich v Coventry, Peterborough v Pirates, Swindon v Eastbourne.