YOUNG Poole star Vinnie Foord has revealed he received death threats during their KO Cup final first leg win at Oxford.

The Wessex Marine Pirates reserve scored a vital paid nine in 57-33 win on Saturday night which leaves the club on the cusp of a historic treble.

But Foord, 18, admits he was subjected to shocking verbal abuse on the track walk at Cowley as fans reacted to his two controversial crash incidents in the Championship Grand Final at Wimborne Road the week before.

Poole are now red-hot favourites to complete a third trophy success this month at the stadium on Wednesday night in the second leg against the Cheetahs.

However Foord revealed: “I’m pretty good with banter, I don’t really take it to heart. I look at it more as motivation.

(Image: Taylor Lanning) “But it’s not great to be told some of the things I was at Oxford. I had a few people tell me they were going to kill me. Even the track staff were giving me a bit of stick.

“I think there’s a limit to the banter. It’s not terrible to be a villain. I’ve always been told, if you can’t get a cheer, get a boo.

“But the line was crossed a few times. It’s pretty hard for my family to hear this stuff.

“I look at it as motivation. I’ve got to go out and prove to them that I’m not a dangerous rider and not the things they’ve been calling me.

“I also had Oxford fans who came over to speak to me and were great as well.

“It was a good meeting for myself and the team. I felt happy I could go out and do well to prove the fans who were hating on me wrong.”

(Image: Taylor Lanning) Foord also hit back at claims that he caused the crashes in heats 2 and 8 of the Grand Final in Dorset which have provoked outrage from Cheetahs fans.

He added: “I’ve never intentionally hurt a rider. It’s never in my mind to injure a fellow rider.

“It’s just one of those things in racing. We all want it and we all want to win as much as each other.

“I was just going for the win in heat 2 as was Luke (Killeen). It was a big racing incident, what happened was unfortunate.

“In heat 8 I had just got level with Jody. I don’t think he could tell the distance between us in that split second. It went from a huge gap to us being pretty tight.

(Image: Taylor Lanning) “We have both tried to leave some racing room. But we were both committed and probably a lack of experience from both of us to be honest.”

The East Sussex kid also paid tribute to the Pirates bosses for helping him progress and be on the verge of three medals in his debut Championship campaign.

He said: “It’s been a dream season for me. At the start of the year I just thought I was doing the National Development League only.

“I didn’t expect to be ending up at Poole and hopefully picking up the treble. I’m certainly looking forward to Wednesday night and hopefully we can complete the job.

“The Poole management of Danny Ford and Neil Middleditch have been amazing to me. Everyone at Poole has helped me out from day one. That constant support has brought me on more so I’m scoring more now.”

Middleditch also leapt to the defence of his young trump card star.

He said: “Vinnie gives 110 per cent effort. He’s had a lot of bad press lately after the Grand Final second leg. People are confusing enthusiasm and inexperience for being a dirty rider.

“He’s certainly not a dirty rider. There’s no malice in any of the crashes. To be fair they weren’t particularly his fault.”

Middlo also praised Foord and Tobias Thomsen for their crucial contributions in the recent big clashes. He added: “The reserves have been phenomenal. They got paid 21 points between them in the Cup final first leg and the 5-1 in heat 2 was always going to be pivotal, even before the crash in heat 4.

“I’ve said it time and time again but reserves win you meetings. Both Tobias and Vinnie have been tremendous in the three meetings with Oxford over the past fortnight. They have made a massive difference.”