NEIL Middleditch lamented the loss of spearhead Chris Holder as Pirates crashed to Elite League Shield defeat at Wolverhampton last night.

Holder was ruled out of the meeting at Monmore Green through illness, with Poole Castle Cover operating rider replacement in the Aussie’s absence.

And despite fine efforts from countrymen Davey Watt and Darcy Ward, Poole’s slender nine-point advantage from the first leg at Wimborne Road was not enough as the hosts ran out convincing 55-38 (98-90) winners to triumph by eight points on aggregate.

Ward did run in an 8-1 tactical heat advantage in race 12 alongside Renat Gafurov, leaving Poole Castle Cover two points in front on aggregate, but two 5-1 wins for the hosts in heats 13 and 15 eventually did for the visitors Team manager Middleditch told the Echo: “It was a tough night but it was always going to be that way without Chris. We did well to get to a last-heat decider for a race-off but unfortunately fell at the last hurdle.

“We tried to get a rider in to guest for Chris but there were so many people racing that it was impossible. You can’t expect riders to just drop everything and race for you when it’s likely they have been riding over the weekend.”

Pirates were just about holding on to their advantage from the first leg early on, with Wolves securing heat wins from two of the opening six races to stay six points clear in the meeting.

That lead became 10 points, however, in race six as Watt failed to keep pace with Freddie Lindgren and Ty Proctor with Kyle Newman retiring.

Watt came out on top in heat nine, but the struggling Newman trailed at the back, before Ward and Gafurov reduced the arrears in race 12.

It was a case of normal service resumed in heat 13, however, with Freddie Lindgren and Peter Karlsson getting the better of Dennis Andersson and Watt to level the meeting on aggregate.

Ricky Wells then stormed to victory in the penultimate heat, with Ludvig Lindgren in third, to secure a crucial 4-2 that all but sealed the meeting and left Pirates needing a 5-1 in heat 15 to level the clash on aggregate and force a race-off.

It was a bridge too far, with Watt and Ward succumbing to Karlsson and Freddie Lindgren.

Middleditch added: “I left the tactical ride until the last minute and it worked perfectly.

“I thought we might be able to get something out of heat 14, but it wasn’t to be.”