Ford's focus on seeing Pirates push on in league quest

Promoter Danny Ford is eager to see Poole Pirates put their foot down in the SGB Championship’s race for top spot.

The Dorset club are set to host Plymouth Gladiators at Wimborne Road on Wednesday (7.30pm).

Pirates are currently third in the league standings behind Scunthorpe and Oxford respectively, having ridden fewer meetings than the leading duo.

Victory against Garry May’s Plymouth would send Poole level on points at the top ahead of a busy run of fixtures during the summer holiday period.

?? TOMORROW | POOLE v PLYMOUTH

??? Clashes against our coastal rivals always have an extra bit of spice! Join us at Wimborne Road tomorrow night for another hot encounter

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Ford said: "As things currently stand we have ridden the fewest number of league matches in the Championship, but have quite a schedule ahead of us with four home league matches, starting on Wednesday, followed by three very tough away matches (Redcar, Glasgow and Workington) and it is crucial for us that we can be in a strong position heading into those.

“So, a really positive result against Plymouth will be most welcomed, but we know that we are going to have to be on it from the very first green light and be a little more consistent throughout the team than we were against Edinburgh in our last match.

“Ideally I would like to see something similar to the score we achieved when Plymouth were last in town. On that occasion, in the BSN, we won by twenty six points, but of course they lost Nico (Covatti) after two rides on his injury comeback that night and he has had more time in the saddle since.

“You also have to believe that Kyle (Newman) won't have such a tough night as he did in that meeting when he only scored one point. We simply cannot take anything for granted but we are absolutely determined to send the Gladiators back to Devon disappointed."

The Pirates welcome back teenager Vinnie Foord at reserve, following a wrist injury.