PIRATES spearheads Hans Andersen and Bjarne Pedersen pulled off a spectacular heat 15 maximum over Belle Vue top gun Krzysztof Kasprzak at Wimborne Road tonight.

But it was not enough to stop Poole Castle Cover slumping to yet another home defeat – their hopes of silverware this season diminishing even further as Aces triumphed by five points.

Going into tonight's meeting, with the bottom-of-the-table Dorset club languishing 20 points adrift of a title play-off place, the Knockout Cup looked like the only trophy Andersen and Co might still be able to get their hands on.

But Belle Vue, for whom young Dane Patrick Hougaard was a revelation in grabbing 12 points, quickly had Pirates on the back foot by storming into a 19-11 lead which Poole never really looked like digging too far into.

Six-strong Pirates, using rider replacement for injured Chris Holder, rode their hearts out on a tricky track, made even more difficult by the dusty conditions caused by one of the hottest days of the year.

Andersen and Pedersen’s last-gasp 5-1 over Kasprzak helped trim Belle Vue’s one-time 11-point lead back to only five in the end.

But Poole will need a big effort to come out on top overall in the second leg at Kirky Lane on a date to be decided.

If they are to win through to meet Coventry in the semi-final, and retain their chances of meeting Lakeside in the final, they will definitely need Holder back in the saddle.

With the Aussie in their team, and fielding a full-strength seven-man side, Pirates could yet get themselves out of jail, especially as they only lost 45-43 at Kirky Lane in the league earlier this season.

It’s a tall order though, and Aces will go into the clash overwhelming favourites to fix up a last-four tie against the Bees, almost certainly leaving Poole looking in from the outside when the trophies are handed out in October.

Pirates have now lost 16 of their 21 matches this term in league, cup and challenges, winning just three and drawing two.

You can’t really knock any of their riders’ commitment, determination or effort, though.

They never gave up battling last night, even when it was obvious Belle Vue were going to take a deserved lead into the second leg.

Paul Fry and Buccaneers’ Jay Herne, called up in place of |rested Karol Baran, tried their best. But they only notched paid three from their eight scheduled rides.

So it was no surprise it was at reserve where Pirates’ hopes nose-dived, with Charlie Gjedde, such an experienced professional lining up at number seven, and Jordan Frampton, guesting for unavailable Kevin Doolan, bagging a mighty 13 paid 18 between them.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see where Poole’s biggest problems lie.

Their hardcore fans know it, the promotion knows it and the riders know it.

But at least impressive gutsy displays by Pedersen (16+1) and Andersen (15), along with some support from Joe Screen and Daniel Davidsson, who clearly found the ultra slick track difficult to ride, gave the home fans something to shout about.

Even Fry, whose never-say-die style is always good to see when a side is struggling so much, produced a vintage ride to overtake Luke Bowen on the last lap of heat seven after Pedersen had purposely slowed to try and give his team-mate a chance of grabbing third place.

  • Holder may have a run-out at Wimborne Road after tomorrow night's Buccaneers versus Isle of Wight third-tier clash to test out the strength in his injured arm ahead of his Grand Prix qualifier in Croatia on Saturday.