NEVER mind man-on-man... this was men against boys.

Pirates continued their relentless march in defence of both Elite League and Knockout Cup by bringing up a hat-trick of wins at Monmore Green last night.

It was like shelling peas and taking candy from a baby as Poole Coastal Aluminium racked up a 15-point lead to take into the second leg at Wimborne Road a week tomorrow.

Never in arrears from the first heat to the last, Pirates stylishly eclipsed their Elite League and Elite Shield victories at the Black Country venue by running up a cricket score.

They also made a mockery of the new Knockout Cup format which afforded Wolves an opportunity to claw back part of their deficit after they had fallen eight points behind.

The window came after Pirates had raced 31-23 ahead – having taken the chequered flag on no fewer than nine occasions in the first 11 heats.

Billed as a ‘man-on-man’ match race, Wolves sent out spearhead Freddie Lindgren to square up against Pirates skipper Chris Holder – but not before Adrian Miedzinski and Dennis Andersson had taken to the track thinking they were out in heat 10.

While confusion reigned, the race-off was something of an anti-climax as Freddie Lindgren was gifted the three points after Holder had taken a tumble. It was almost as if the Aussie had fallen off in sympathy with the home crowd.

Wolves, who used the rider replacement facility for injured Tai Woffinden, gave a debut to new Polish signing Robert Miskowiak, while Pirates had Ludvig Lindgren and Kyle Howarth as their reserves, the pair contributing nine valuable points.

Holder lowered the colours of Freddie Lindgren to set the tone in the opening heat before Howarth and Ludvig Lindgren followed home Ricky Wells to ensure a 3-3 in heat two, with Lukasz Sowka retiring.

The lead changed hands several times during an enthralling third heat with Miedzinski eventually prevailing over Freddie Lindgren as Pirates maintained a narrow two-point lead.

Howarth dug deep to claim third behind Darcy Ward in heat four, even if the Aussie was almost in another county when he finished ahead of Ricky Wells.

Holder looked destined to play second fiddle to Ty Proctor after the Wolves man had kept closing the door in heat five. However, Houdini Holder conjured a daring passing manoeuvre on the penultimate lap to steal his countryman’s thunder.

Wins for Ward and Andersson saw Pirates extend to six points their lead before Pontus Aspgren held off the determined challenge of Ricky Kling to register a rare heat victory for Wolves, although Howarth’s sweeping move to pass Sowka was the highlight of an intriguing encounter.

Normal service was resumed following the sideshow of Freddie Lindgren’s man-on-man win over Holder as Pirates forged nine points clear after recording their first 5-1 thanks to Andersson and Miedzinski in heat 10.

Another maximum from Ward and Miedzinski in heat 12 had the Monmore Green statisticians thumbing the record books after Freddie Lindgren had trailed in last.

“When was the last time that happened?” asked the centre green Tannoy man – speaking minutes before the Swede again finished as the whipper-in to Ward and Holder in the finale.

The fact Wolves took until the penultimate heat to outscore Pirates told its own story. It was a tale of men against boys.

Wolves: Fredrik Lindgren (2-2-2-3-1-0-0) = 10, Pontus Aspgren (0-0-3-0) = 3, Miskowiak (0-1*-0-2-2-1) = 6+1, R/R, Ty Proctor (1*-2-2-1-1*) = 7+2, Ricky Wells (3-2-1*-2-1*-3) 12+2, Lukasz Sowka (rtd-0-1) = 1.

Pirates: Chris Holder (3-3-3-3-2*) = 14+1 , Ricky Kling (1-0-2-0) = 3, Darcy Ward (3-3-3-3-3) = 15, Dennis Andersson (0-3-3-0) = 6, Adrian Miedzinski (3-0-2*-2*) = 7+2, Ludvig Lindgren (1*-1-1-2) 5+1, Kyle Howarth (2-1-1*-0) 4+1.

Ht 1: Holder, F Lindgren, Kling, Aspgren, 54.81 (2-4) Ht 2: Wells, Howarth, L Lindgren, Sowka, 56.26 (5-7) Ht 3: Miedzinski, F Lindgren, Proctor, Andersson, 55.83 (8-10) Ht 4: Ward, Wells, Howarth, Miskowiak, 55.91 (10-14) Ht 5: Holder, Proctor, Wells, Kling, 55.77 (13-17) Ht 6: Ward, F Lindgren, L Lindgren, Aspgren, 55.68 (15-21) Ht 7: Andersson, Wells, Miskowiak, Miedzinski, 56.79 (18-24) Ht 8: Aspgren, Kling, Howarth, Sowka, 57.42 (21-27) Ht 9: Ward, Proctor, L Lindgren, Miskowiak, 56.40 (23-31) Man-on-man heat: F Lindgren beat Holder, (26-31) Ht 10: Andersson, Miedzinski, F Lindgren, Aspgren, 56.77 (27-36) Ht 11: Holder, Miskowiak, Wells, Kling, 56.85 (30-39) Ht 12: Ward, Miedzinski, Proctor, F Lindgren, 57.07 (31-44) Ht 13: Holder, Miskowiak, Proctor, Andersson, 56.61 (34-47) Ht 14: Wells, L Lindgren, Sowka, Howarth, 57.48 (38-49) Ht 15: Ward, Holder, Miskowiak, F Lindgren, 57.09 (39-54)