THOMAS H Jonasson and Andrzej Lebedevs have replaced Dawid Stachyra and Kyle Howarth as Poole Pirates promoter Matt Ford completed his early season shake-up.

Twenty-four-year-old Jonasson, who helped Pirates to their 2011 Elite League title success, returns to Wimborne Road with relatively unknown Latvian Lebedevs, 18, completing the line-up.

The news comes in the wake of Poole's horrendous start to the 2013 season which resulted in crocked star Darcy Ward being replaced by Przemyslaw Pawlicki yesterday.

And while Ford had made no secret of his plans to reshape the team, he revealed a lot of soul searching went into the “very uncomfortable decision” to axe Stachyra and Howarth who were described as “victims of circumstance”.

The Pirates promoter explained that the need to balance averages had played its part as Robert Miskowiak, who suffered a nightmare on his return from injury at King's Lynn, was spared the cull.

On the changes, Ford told the Daily Echo: “It is purely a numbers game and they have done nothing wrong. Dawid's average worked against him.

“It is the same with Kyle, he has had a couple of exceptional meetings and is unlucky to be making way. I am hopeful he will bounce back because he is young and has a lot of speedway ahead of him.

“It was a very uncomfortable decision but I want to give Robert time to prove his worth. He is a very accomplished rider and he has the full support of the club.

Meanwhile, Ford said that he was delighted when Jonasson answered Pirates' call to arms to bring his sleepless nights to an end.

Ford added: “In the past Thomas has shown a reluctance to do the UK circuit but when I contacted him he was one of the first people to reply.

“I have got to say he is always easy to deal with and he has shown he is fully committed to us by bringing his own equipment across which he didn't do last time he was here.

“Andrzej will be new to many in the UK and he was someone we wanted to bring in at the start of the season but, because of averages, didn't fit into our plans.

“He is a very decent rider with a unique style and, while the smaller tracks will be testing for him, we think he can do well, particularly at home.”

On the Pirates' form, Ford said: “We have been misfiring from the top and that has made us vulnerable so we've had to take the chance to change things now and try to save our season.

“I cannot believe the position we have found ourselves in but we need to put ourselves back in the mix and we hope these changes will do that. It is a horrible situation to be in and I have not enjoyed making these decisions.”