Worrall insists play-off final turnaround still 'doable' for Poole Pirates

Poole Pirates captain Steve Worrall reflects after his team were beaten 52-38 at Glasgow.

Determined Steve Worrall insisted it was still “more than doable” for Poole Pirates to seal the SGB Championship title – despite giving up a daunting 14-point deficit against Glasgow Tigers.

The Pirates skipper was speaking after his troops were beaten 52-38 in the first leg of the play-off final at Glasgow’s Ashfield headquarters on Monday.

British stalwart Chris Harris totalled a paid maximum with 14+1, while another former Pirate in Ben Basso (10+1) also reached double figures.

Poole found themselves 18 points behind after eight heats but Worrall, who totalled 9+1 himself, was pleased to see his team battle on ahead of Wednesday’s second leg at Wimborne Road (7.30pm).

He said: “Obviously it was sailing away and other teams would have just rolled over and waved the white flag but we still dug in.

“Barring Bomber (Harris), we would have had a 5-1 in heats 13 and 15, which would have made the scoreline look completely different. You just can’t keep him behind.

“To keep it the way it was, 14 points is more than doable.”

He added: “Obviously the start of it was not ideal for us as a team.

“I can’t take credit away from Glasgow – they rode fantastic. You could see that from the off, they were straight into it.

“Maybe they were already dialled in from last week, they had a meeting in similar conditions against Oxford where the track‘s got a little bit in it and it started spitting.

“Even myself. I had two heats on the wrong bike, swapped bikes and then different story for me as well.

“I can’t put my finger on it really but fair play to everyone. They rallied and dug deep.

“Fourteen points, it’s not the end of the world. When you think it’s some 5-1s and a big heat 15, it’s more than doable for us.”

Glasgow will look to scupper Pirates’ flawless run of winning every major team trophy in the second tier of British Speedway, since they dropped down from the top flight in 2020.

But returning to home shale, British Championship runner-up Worrall is confident Neil Middleditch’s side can cause the Tigers some problems.

“There’s a few things going against them,” he added.

“Vadim (Tarasenko) is a fantastic rider and I’m sure he will adapt really quick but he’s never ridden Poole before.

“Some of the Glasgow lads, they don’t ride Poole like they do ride here.

“We stumbled a little bit with our reserves on Monday, Kyle (Newman) had a few dramas and we’ve got to address that before Wednesday.

“I just think at home we are in a better place with our reserves as well.

“The engine room of the team is very strong at Poole for us.”

(Pictures: Taylor Lanning Photography)