Pirates pull off pulsating victory in league opener at Berwick

Poole Pirates number one Richard Lawson hailed the way his team “dug deep” with only six riders to seal a dramatic 46-44 victory at Berwick.

In their first SGB Championship league fixture this season, the visitors lost Zach Cook to a hip injury after he fell in heat three.

Aussie Cook was withdrawn from the meeting, leaving Poole a man light and trailing by 10 points after just four heats.

But Lawson, who was deployed as a tactical substitute in heat nine, helped spark a comeback and, remarkably, Poole took a four-point lead into heat 15.

And Whitehaven-born Lawson split Bandits duo Josh Pickering and Rory Schlein in the finale, meaning Pirates sealed the spoils.

He said: "It was a bad start from very much all of us but, yeah, we pulled through.

“We lost Zach early and it was backs against the wall time and we came through. Everyone dug deep and there were great times from everyone.

“Last heat decider and it is nice when it goes that way but it was tough. There wasn't much room there in heat 15 and there was really only one option and I took it and to be fair to Schleiny he rode me very hard but it was fair.

“It's fantastic to get off with a good opening league win. We all said that this would be a really difficult meeting. They are a really good side and especially here at their track so we sent out a good marker there.”

Pirates were beaten 47-43 at Edinburgh a night previously in the second leg of the Knockout Cup quarter final.

They did however progress to the last four with a 92-87 win on aggregate.

(Picture: Tony Hartmann)