PIRATES boss Neil Middleditch hailed Chris Holder and Darcy Ward after the dynamic duo produced late heroics to earn an away point last night.

Poole suffered a 48-42 defeat at Elite League rivals Lakeside Hammers but emerged with something to show for their efforts – largely thanks to their star performers.

The highly-rated pair scored heavily throughout the Arena-Essex Raceway clash – bagging 26 of Pirates’ points – and underlined why they are two of speedway’s leading talents by landing a heat 15 maximum.

With their team trailing by 10 points, Holder and Ward delivered the crucial 5-1, as they did at Swindon last week, to leave Middleditch pleased with the result. The Wimborne Road team manager was particularly delighted with the performances of Holder and Ward.

He told the Echo: “I was happy to get a point. After going into heat 15 10 points down, I thought it was a brilliant result.

“Chris and Darcy showed why they are the Elite League Pairs champions. They are a tremendous pairing. They are both in tremendous form.”

Holder, who recorded a majestic maximum in Wednesday’s resounding home win over Lakeside, was only denied a memorable double by an Adam Shields win in heat five.

But the 23-year-old landed four victories, the first in heat one.

The hosts responded through Stuart Robson and Robert Mear after Kyle Newman had started off a 15-metre penalty for a tapes offence.

In a closely-fought opening, Ward held off Shields before Pirates levelled at 12-12 thanks to a Davey Watt win. After Shields’ win over Holder, Watt and Dennis Andersson were left trailing by Lee Richardson and Kauko Nieminen, who combined to open up a six-point cushion.

Australian duo Jason Doyle and Ward trimmed the advantage with a 5-1, only for Robson and Nieminen to repeat the feat.

Watt won again and, with Richardson disqualified, Ward and Doyle bagged a heat 10 advantage to edge Pirates closer.

Another Holder victory followed but Shields defeated Ward to leave the Dorset outfit with a 39-33 deficit going into the final three heats.

Poole remained in with a chance thanks to Holder. But having never been more than six points adrift, they were left with a mountain to climb when Mear and Piotr Swiderski extended to 10 the Lakeside lead.

However, requiring a final-heat maximum, it was no surprise to see Middleditch send out Holder and Ward – and the Pirates stars did not disappoint.

RIDER SCORES Hammers 48: 1 Lee Richardson (2-3-0-1*-0) 6+1, 2 Kauko Nieminen (0-2*-2*-2) 6+2, 3 Adam Shields (2-3-2-3-1) 11, 4 Piotr Swiderski (1*-1-1*-3) 6+2, 5 Peter Ljung (2-0-2-2) 6, 6 Robert Mear (2*-1-1*-2*) 6+3, 7 Stuart Robson (3-0-3-1) 7.

Pirates 42: 1 Chris Holder (3-2-3-3-3) 14, 2 Renat Gafurov (1-0-0-0) 1, 3 Darcy Ward (3-2*-3-2-2*) 12+2, 4 Jason Doyle (0-3-1-0) 4, 5 Davey Watt (3-1-3-0) 7, 6 Dennis Andersson (1-0-1-0-1) 3, 7 Kyle Newman (0-1-0) 1.