PIRATES chief Matt Ford admitted to having had a “change of heart” after making an extraordinary U-turn by recalling dropped Dawid Stachyra.

Ford revealed that Stachyra had been drafted back into the Pirates line-up – just days after falling victim to the club’s triple team change.

Stachyra was omitted from Poole’s re-declared one-to-seven at the expense of Andzejs Lebedevs when Ford finalised the shake-up on Friday.

However, after confirming that issues had arisen over Lebedevs’s availability and equipment, Ford moved quickly to give Stachyra a second chance.

Polish race ace Stachyra, 27, has performed solidly for Pirates so far this season and his original axing had been criticised by some supporters.

And Ford held up his hands and confessed he had made a mistake after revealing problems surrounding Lebedevs’s fixture clashes and equipment.

The Poole promoter told the Daily Echo: “It was a very simple decision for me to make.

“Taking Dawid out of the team in the first place was a very hard decision and it was part of a collective move. Dawid will go in at number six, where Andzejs would have been.

“It was with a very heavy heart that I initially made the first move anyway and the longer time went on, the more I kept considering that I hadn’t made the right move.

“You sometimes have to stand up and be counted and it is better to have made an error before a wheel has been turned.

“I am happy to say that I phoned Dawid and said that he hadn’t missed a meeting and could he still come in on Wednesday. His reaction was superb and he just said ‘count me in, I’ll be there and I am looking forward to it’. I think it is a relief to him to be coming back into the team.

“We have not missed anything, it is purely a change of heart and these things happen at times. I think the correct move is to go with Dawid.”

Stachyra, who has scored 51+11 in 11 meetings for Pirates, including a 12-point maximum against Eastbourne, is likely to receive a warm reception when he features for the Dorset outfit against Elite League rivals Lakeside at Wimborne Road on Wednesday (7.30pm).

He will be joined at reserve by new recruit Thomas H Jonasson, who replaced Kyle Howarth in Friday’s team changes. Pirates’ other switch saw Przemyslaw Pawlicki signed, with injured number one Darcy Ward making way.

Meanwhile, Dorset-based bookmakers Jem Racing have installed Pirates at odds of 8-1 to win the Elite League.

Latest prices: 11-8 Swindon, 5-2 Wolves, 5-1 King’s Lynn, 8-1 Pirates, 9-1 Birmingham, 25-1 Belle Vue, Lakeside, 50-1 Eastbourne, 66-1 Coventry, Peterborough.